An angry naked woman ransacked a Third Avenue Chinese restaurant in Bay Ridge on Thursday, then ran outside and danced in the street in the buff, stopping traffic, drawing hundreds of onlookers, and nearly burning the building to the ground before cops showed up and hauled her away.
The craziness started at around 3 pm, when the then fully clothed woman — who had blond hair but whose identity could not be confirmed — walked into Dragon China between 79th and 80th streets and demanded free food after finding the word “free” on the take-out menu.
“She asked the cashier, ‘Everything is for free?’ ” said the restaurant’s owner, Dajo Zhao, who said that the woman then slammed her fingers down on the menu, while screaming, “Free! Free! Free! Free!”
When another customer told her that she was crazy, the woman put on a show that made it appear as if she was.
Unhinged, she started throwing everything she could get her hands on, screaming with rage and wildly flailing. Her manic tornado then moved to the back of the restaurant, where she pushed over equipment, threw food, and even punched a chef.
“I walked in and I saw an old lady trashing the place,” said Noreen Monier, who owns Tops Restaurant & Bar Supply on Third Avenue between 80th and 81st streets. “I told her to stop and she threw a watermelon at me. She had superhuman strength.”
The panicked employees quickly moved out into the street as the woman continued to cut a path of destruction through the tiny take-out joint.
Minutes later, she emerged from the store and took off her clothes piece-by-piece on the sidewalk — first kicking off her lime green loafers, then chucking her handbag, before stripping off her gray skirt and red blouse, revealing the full monty to the nearly 300 onlookers who gathered, many of whom were snapping pictures and filming video of the show.
“She was prancing around,” said a witness. “At first it was funny, but then it got scary.”
When a black convertible attempted to pass through the normally bustling intersection — the woman blocked its path and laid down on top of it, giving the confused driver an unwanted hood ornament.
“You just never seen nothing like this. She’s naked as the day she was born, spread eagle on the car,” said Michael Clancy, who was walking his dog nearby when the woman began to strip.
The woman eventually made her way back into the restaurant, where she began chucking Snapple bottles and destroying anything she hadn’t already devastated —including the store’s cash register and telephone.
“She’s picking up the phones, answering calls, and throwing money,” said Clancy.
As the naked woman continued to make a mess, a fire broke out on the restaurant’s broiler and began to spread.
Shortly afterward, cops were on the scene and fire fighters showed up to contain the blaze.
Female police officers tried to contain the naked woman by wrapping her in a blanket, but she slipped out of their grasp repeatedly before they were finally able to cuff and cover her.
Police would not say if the naked woman was arrested by press time.
Cops in the 68th Precinct did not respond to calls requesting comment.
Witnesses said that the naked woman is a regular along Third Avenue, where she is often seen talking to herself as she walks down the street fully clothed.
“She mutters to herself and argues a little, but she seems well taken care of,” said Monier. “[But on Thursday] you could tell she was completely gone.”
The weird spectacle, which was first reported by the blog Bay Ridge Journal was the talk of the strip on Monday, where witnesses were still recovering from the shock of the surreal scene.
“In my 36 years on Third Avenue, I’ve never seen anything like that,” said one merchant.
