May 16, 2024 By Bill Parry
Detectives from the 114th Precinct are investigating a bizarre attack in broad daylight near the Woodside Houses NYCHA complex on Wednesday afternoon.
A 37-year-old man initiated a physical altercation with a couple and was beaten and stabbed repeatedly when the man and woman fought back.
The instigator approached the couple as they were walking a dog on Newtown Road at 49th Street near the Broadway intersection just before 3 p.m. He struck the man from behind while he was moving with the aid of a riding scooter with an apparent injury to his right foot; the woman who was walking alongside him retaliated immediately while continuing to hold on to the dog’s leash.
The man on the scooter pulled out a sharp object and stabbed his assailant multiple times in the head, neck, back and lower torso, according to an NYPD spokeswoman. She could not say what precipitated the initial attack.
The couple and the dog fled the scene, heading east on Broadway toward Northern Boulevard.
EMS responded to the location and rushed the wounded man to Elmhurst Hospital where he was listed in stable condition. Investigators are working to locate the couple. There are no arrests and the assault investigation remains ongoing.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
Through May 12, the 114th Precinct has reported 199 assaults so far in 2024, 31 more than the 168 reported at the same point last year, an increase of 18.5%, according to the most recent CompStat report.