Man sitting on Brooklyn parkway bench stabbed, wounded by stranger in fight over his seat
A 34-year-old was slashed and stabbed in the back during a bloody Labor Day clash a short distance from revelers marching in the West Indian day parade, police said Tuesday.
The victim was sitting on a bench at Eastern Parkway and Nostrand Ave. in Crown Heights about 2:45 p.m. on Monday when he got into an argument with Jason Morris, 40, who also wanted to sit on the bench, according to cops.
The argument between the strangers escalated into a fistfight before Morris allegedly pulled a blade and raked it across his opponent’s face, cops said. He then plunged the blade into his victim’s back, witnesses told police.
Cops monitoring the parade a few blocks away quickly responded and took Morris into custody without incident.
Morris, who lives in the Bronx, was charged with assault. His arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court was pending Tuesday.
The assault took place about six blocks from where parade marchers hooked a right from Empire Blvd. onto Nostrand Ave.
It was not immediately clear if either Morris or his victim had attended the parade or if the fight had anything to do with the celebration.
The parade and J’Ouvert festival, which precedes the march, have been marred by violence in past years, but Mayor Adams said Monday that there were no shootings tied to the celebration this year — and credited a collaboration among multiple city agencies for keeping the unrest in check.
“Historically, we get the parade and then law enforcement later,” Adams said. “We did something new this year — we did law enforcement first.”
