Man Charged With Slashing French Tourist Across Throat In Harlem
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Following an arrest in the random slashing of a French tourist in Harlem, another victim has come forward to say he was attacked by the same suspect in a nearly identical way.
He spoke with CBS2's Lisa Rozner on Tuesday.
Friday's attack happened outside an IHOP in Harlem, but back in May just a block away, the suspect, 28-year-old Khaleif Young, was accused of randomly slashing someone else. That victim said he wanted to press charges, but the Manhattan district attorney dropped the ball.
The 27-year-old French tourist was slashed in the throat and is unable to speak. But he posted on Instagram that his visit to see his girlfriend, an au pair in Harlem, was a "New York fail."
Cellphone video shows the chaos Friday after he was cut with a box cutter or knife immediately after the two finished up a Valentine's Day breakfast at the IHOP on Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard near West 132nd Street.
Young was arrested Monday for the incident and remanded.
But it was deja vu for a pharmacy owner nearby.
"If they knew the guy, why didn't they prosecute him? They were waiting for him to do this again," Benjamin Onwudiwe said.
She showed Rozner the scars on his neck from May 2019 when police said he was waiting to pay for coffee inside a deli located close to the scene of Friday's attack. That's when police said Young randomly slashed his neck.
"I was terrified, mortified, and scared," Onwudiwe said. "Then blood started gushing out. That's when I realized he used an instrument. I didn't talk to him, didn't look at him. I was just standing. It was time, my turn to make my purchase when it happened."
The deli manager at the time didn't want to show his face, but said he gave police the surveillance video.
"By time I turn around he's already cut and all I had to do was make a tea," the deli manager said.
When asked if he heard anyone shout anything or saw an altercation, the deli manager said, "No fighting, nothing. It's just outta nowhere."
Sources told CBS2 Young has three prior arrests. He was first picked up for weapons possession in 2015, then for slashing another man in the neck in May of last year. A few months later, in October, he was arrested again, this time for punching and kicking a woman, who was a neighbor. He was released without bail.
Rozner tried to speak with people at his apartment, but residents were not cooperative.
In the pharmacist's case, Young was charged with assault, but it's unclear why he was released. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. told us the case is sealed.
"Whomever that was handling case said she'd get back to me. I never heard from them. I called them several times. I spoke to her. The only thing she ended up telling me is not to go to the store anymore," Onwudiwe said.
Back at the IHOP, the hostess said she hopes Young stays in jail.
"Lock him up. Lock him up. Put him under the jail. That's ridiculous," Antoinette Lewis said.
