Man faces charges in 'salty' armed robbery

A MAN IN North Philadelphia found himself between some rock salt and a hard place last week when someone held him at gunpoint as he cleared snow from the sidewalk, police said yesterday.

Daron Stinson, 21, pointed a gun at the 52-year-old man on Diamond Street near Sedgley Avenue around 3 p.m. Thursday, police said. But he didn't demand his wallet or his watch - he wanted his rock salt, police said.

And it was all caught on video - by Stinson - who then uploaded the footage to social media as part of an apparent string of prank holdups Stinson filmed and posted on his Instagram account, according to police.

Stinson allegedly approached his rock-salt victim in a pickup truck with another man. In a video of the incident released by police yesterday, a man cops say is Stinson repeatedly asks the victim how much he wants for his rock salt before pulling out what appears to be a black handgun and pointing it at the man.

About half an hour before that holdup, Stinson is also believed to have stuck up another man six blocks away, on Diamond Street near 22nd. Police said the victim in that case said Stinson pointed a handgun at him, said something he couldn't make out and then fled in a black truck.

In the rock salt robbery video, one of the robbers can be heard screaming at the unsuspecting victim who is salting his sidewalk: "How much is that salt?"

When the victim doesn't respond, the men point the gun at him and scream: "Put it in the truck! Put it in the truck! Hurry up! Hurry the f--- up!"

As the terrified victim grabs his bag of salt to walk it over to the car, half of it spills from an opening in the bag down to the sidewalk below.

The man police identified as Stinson and his cohort can be heard laughing uncontrollably in the background.

When he posted the video online, Stinson, who goes by "funniestnphilly" on Instagram, wrote: "Please don't try this it's very dangerous poor old head make him waste all that good salt."

Stinson surrendered to Central Detectives early yesterday and was charged with aggravated assault, robbery and related offenses. His co-conspirator had not been identified.

Police said the gun used in the incidents was determined to be a black pellet gun.