New to me scam in NYC

I saw this on recent trip to New York. On crowded sidewalk, a man holding a plastic container of food made a sudden lurch into an unwary person, spilling the contents of his container onto the sidewalk. Then vehemently cursing the innocent person, demanding compensation for his "lunch". The couple refused and went on their way. The man scooped up his lunch back into the container and tried his luck further down the street.