Homeless man charged with slashing stranger’s neck in NYC also attacked deli worker with chain just 24 hours before: prosecutors
NY Post
The homeless man accused of senselessly slashing a 30-year-old man in the neck near the Astor Place Cube also attacked a deli worker with a chain just a day before the random assault, it was revealed in court Monday.
A chatty Steven Johnson, 35, was ordered held without bail on charges of attempted murder and assault by Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Rachel Pauley for the string of unprovoked attacks in the East Village.
“Good afternoon, your honor. How you doing? Many blessings, many blessings,” Johnson said, while rocking back and forth, before he was cut off by his attorney.
Just 24 hours before the Astor Place attack, Johnson smashed a Saint Marks Place deli worker in the head with a chain after he was asked to leave the store for blocking the entrance, Assistant District Attorney Robert Wirtz charged.
The worker was left bloodied and required five stitches to the head in the June 5 caught-on-camera attack, prosecutors allege.
But the unhinged man’s rampage continued the next day when he slashed a stranger with a sharp object after approaching him from behind at Lafayette Square and Cooper Avenue just before 5:30 p.m. on June 6.
