By The newspaper
Dec 26, 2023, 1:55 PM EST
A minor traffic accident in Queens (NYC) at dawn on Christmas Day ended with a bloody knife fight, according to a witness.
“The escalation was enormous,” he told Daily News a man who lives near the scene of the stabbing that left an injured 28-year-old in critical condition.
The witness, who asked that his name not be used, said he heard a crash near the intersection of 9th Ave. and 125th St. in College Point around 5:30 a.m. Monday and looked down the street and saw two groups of men arguing around two cars, one red and one white.
At one point, the passenger in the white SUV pulled out a knife and began inciting his rivals in the red car to fight, the witness said. “He was brandishing the knife at the five guys… he was yelling, ‘let’s fight one on one.’”
The witness said the knife-wielding man ended up bloodied on the street. “I don’t know if anyone else had a knife, or if they hit him, or they took the knife and stabbed him with their own,” he said.
Paramedics took the victim to Presbyterian Hospital Queens with multiple stab wounds, where he was reported in critical but stable condition, police said.
The witness saw a group of men run away after the stabbing, but before that one of them slashed the tires of the injured man’s truck.
The police investigation is ongoing. No arrests have been made or suspects identified. Anyone with information should call 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) and in Spanish 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). Also through the website crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or by text message to 274637 (CRIMES), followed by TIP577. All communications are strictly confidential.
The reason for the original crash is unclear. The authorities remember that there is zero tolerance for drivers who drive at excess speed and/or under the influence of alcohol and drugs.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul this month signed “Angelica’s Law,” intended to keep drivers with prior suspensions off the road by charging repeat offenders who operate vehicles after five or more violations with felony charges. traffic violations that resulted in prior suspensions or revocations.
In addition to accidents, road violence has become a constant in New York. Last week three members of a British family, including a 16-year-old minor, were arrested after a fight broke out in the middle of a highway in Long Island (NY), a brawl that also closed the busy road for several hours in the middle of the day.
In October, a 50-year-old Hispanic man was fatally run over in Queens (NYC) in the midst of a violent attack of rage. Just a day earlier, an immigrant grandfather was beaten to death after a minor crash also in that county.
In September, an aspiring model teacher died days after being shot in the head outside the Home Depot in Brooklyn, NY, in an apparent fight over a parking spot. In August, Fausto Rodríguez, a 40-year-old Dominican father, was shot and killed when a crash turned violent on the Cross Bronx Expressway, leaving four children orphaned.
In June Javier Muñoz (29) and Joshua Rivera (22) were arrested by the police as suspects of having killed Jeremy Cancel (34) in a street fight following a minor collision between cars, at the close of Puerto Rico Day in NY.