Salman Muflihi pulled out a 20-centimeter knife and stabbed his 36-year-old victim, walking on Worth Street next to the US court Daniel Patrick Moynihan at around 6:20 pm on Thursday.
Muflihi ran to a security guard outside the district attorney’s building near Manhattan, at Hogan Place, saying to the guard, “I just stabbed someone. Where’s the police?”
He was charged with attempted murder for criminal negligence, assault, forgery and criminal possession of a weapon.
He told detectives that he stabbed the victim “because he didn’t like the way he looked at her.”
The 36-year-old victim was taken to Bellevue Hospital in critical condition.
He was returning home at the time of the attack.
Muflihi has three previous arrests for assault. He looked emotionally upset.
The Asian Hate Crimes Task Force has been included in the investigation, but stabbing is not being investigated as a crime of prejudice.
For your information …. tonight worth and baxter, an asian man was stabbed and the case is being handled and investigated by our @ NYPD5Pct who also called the hate crime task force in Asia to assist in the investigation. Currently, there is no evidence of a hate crime.
Stay safe, guys.– Yuh-Line Niou (@yuhline) February 26, 2021
Community members said they were outraged and furious after the latest attack on an Asian New Yorker.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and other officials spoke earlier this week about the city’s renewed effort to tackle hate crimes against Asians.
“Each community suffered, but there was a particular pain, a particular horrible challenge, faced by the Asian American community,” said de Blasio. “Because, in addition to all the suffering of the coronavirus itself, in addition to losing loved ones and losing business, people had to face horrible discrimination and hatred.”
The Asian Hate Crime Task Force is focusing across the city, but will pay special attention to the subways after a series of incidents in the public transport system.
Community leaders say the incident is just one more reason why the task force should be funded and staffed by full-time officers.
“You need to be able to give them the resources they need to help focus on solving the problem,” said community advocate Jenny Low. “I believe they have very good officers who are well trained to do this. But voluntary work is still voluntary work.”
RELATED | Blasio’s mayor says the Asian Hate Crime Task Force works to combat a number of prejudice crimes in New York
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