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'SoHo Wild Man' Richard Pearson Allegedly Stabs Street Vendor

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The so-called "SoHo Wild Man" has allegedly struck again.

Richard Pearson, whose neighbors say has terrorized them for years, stabbed a street vendor with scissors Monday, police told WCBS 880's Alex Silverman.

Last year, a group of SoHo residents begged a judge to keep the 6-foot-5 man behind bars after he was arrested and charged with cocaine possession, calling him a "ticking time bomb."

'SoHo Wild Man' Richard Pearson Allegedly Stabs Street Vendor

In broad daylight Monday, Pearson ran up to a table where Barre Batchiri was selling cellphone cases on Broadway between Houston and Prince streets -- a busy shopping district -- and stabbed him multiple times with scissors the vendor keeps on the table to open packages, said Bernard Thompson, the victim's partner.

Thompson arrived on the scene just after the attack.

"I looked. I seen on his shirt red," Thompson told CBS 2's Tony Aiello. "I said, 'What happened?' He said, 'Guy stabbed me up!'"

Batchiri was transported to Bellevue Hospital Center with knife wounds to his stomach. His injuries are not believed to be life-threatening. Officers apprehended Pearson nearby, Silverman reported.

'Wild Man' Of SoHo Richard Pearson Angry Face (DL)
Richard Pearson with lawyer in court (CBS 2)

Pearson has previously been accused of punching and kicking a disabled man, stealing knives from a halal vendor's cart, throwing a brick at someone and trespassing.

"There was no way to keep him in jail," one woman told Silverman.

Thompson said all the regulars in the area know to avoid the hulking man.

"I think the system is wrong," Thompson said. "I think the system don't do their job, to be honest with you, because he harasses a lot of people, a lot of families. ... He's just a menace to society."

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