Police Release New Footage In Connection With Slashing Of Greenwich Village Restaurant Worker

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A Greenwich Village restaurant worker was speaking Friday after being slashed in the face while on the job.

As CBS2's Janelle Burrell reported, the attack on Bobby Barbot, 25, was one of 533 stabbing and slashing attacks so far this year, compared to 444 for the same period last year.

Police also released new surveillance video in the slashing that left Barbot injured.

"I'm OK now," he said. "Like I said, I'm living. I'm not dead."

While he was grateful to have survived, Barbot was still uncomfortable showing his face on camera Friday. He talked through the door of his Bronx apartment about the callous attack against him.

Investigators said they are now looking for three teens who they say were seen with another teen accused of slashing 25-year-old Bobby Barbot in the face while he was working as a busboy inside the Silver Spurs restaurant on LaGuardia Place.

The teen, who was seen on surveillance video, was inside the restaurant Wednesday night going table to table asking for donations, claiming to raise money for a basketball team, police said.

"I told him to leave and he didn't want to leave, and said he's coming back and I said he's not coming back," Barbot told CBS2's Janelle Burrell.

When Barbot asked him to leave, police said the teen came back with a box cutter and slashed Barbot in the face.

Barbot's girlfriend rushed to the hospital, where he received 137 stitches.

"He didn't expect the guy to, you know, just slice him," Nicole Fontanez said. "It just happened very quickly."

Police described the teen as black or Hispanic between the ages of 15 and 18 with short dark hair. He was last seen wearing a green bubble jacket, black sneakers, a grey hooded sweatshirt and dark jeans.

He was seen on surveillance video with three other teens, a boy and two girls, on the day of the incident, police said.

Further surveillance footage released on Friday night, shows the suspect and another male walk into an unknown location.

"I hope they find him and arrest him," said Barbot. "People like that on the streets don't belong out there. What they have to do is catch them, and I hope they do."

Barbot said he's getting rest until his doctor's appointment next week. He said he hopes to return back to work as soon as doctors say he's ready.

The attack Wednesday was one in a recent string of slashings and stabbings across New York City.

There was a slashing just blocks away from the restaurant Thursday afternoon at Lafayette and Prince streets in SoHo.

It happened in front of Supreme, a popular skateboard and clothing store as long line of people waited to get in and shop.

Witnesses said the 21-year-old victim had just finished up in the store when there was some kind of altercation when he was slashed.

Police now say it was not a random attack and the suspect and the victim knew each other, CBS2 reported. Investigators say the victim had a previous run-in with his attacker.

Originally, it was believed the victim was slashed because he cut in line at the store.

The most recent incident happened around 5 p.m. Thursday on the Upper West Side.

A 33-year-old man was walking along West 88th Street near Columbus when a male suspect pressed a sharp object to his back and demanded the contents of his pockets, police said.

The suspect then stabbed the victim in the upper back and ran off with his Kindle and headphones, police said.

The victim was taken to Mount Sinai St. Luke's Hospital where he was listed in stable condition. Police late Friday were questioning a suspect in that incident.

Anyone with information in connection with any of the attacks is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), visit www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or texting tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.