Firefighters stop cleaver attack on woman
Chinatown firefighters intervened to stop a man from attacking his wife with a cleaver on the street Sunday morning.
Police arrested Ming Guang Huang, 28, who was charged with attempted murder, assault, criminal possession of a weapon and harassment after injuring his wife, 24, with a cleaver in the middle of Canal St.
The incident occurred around 10:20 a.m. on Feb. 24 on the sidewalk at Allen and Canal Sts., according to a police spokesperson. A security video from a nearby Fong’s Trading store shows a woman rolling on the ground while a man stands over her before he is pushed to the side.
Jose Ortiz, a firefighter who was stationed at the firehouse across the street from where the incident occurred, told NBC New York that he saw a woman crying and screaming while being dragged by a man. As he crossed to intervene, he saw the man pull out a long-bladed knife and swing at her several times.
“He hit her in the head. That was the first shot,” Ortiz said.
Ortiz managed to subdue Huang with the help of his fellow firefighter Shane Clarke and notified the police.
Meanwhile, the woman had fled the scene still bleeding. Clarke caught up to her with a trauma kit, but had difficulty persuading her to calm down due to a language barrier. Police confirmed that she was taken to Bellevue Hospital Center by E.M.S. with lacerations to her back and neck but was reportedly in stable condition.
Busted for selling pot at W.T.C.
The World Trade Center transportation hub briefly became a center of crime when three construction workers were arrested Friday morning for selling pot there, the Port Authority said. The workers were arrested Feb. 22 as they arrived for work at the W.T.C. Transportation Hub between 6:20-7:15 a.m.
Brian McDermott, 34; John Fama, 30; and Cesar Rivera, 25 are facing five counts of drug sale and possession. They are also banned from the W.T.C. site.
The three men, employed by Long Island-based Sorbara Construction Corp. were arrested after previously selling marijuana to several undercover officers, a Port Authority spokesperson confirmed. The arrest is part of a seven-month investigation into drug sales and usage on the W.T.C. site, conducted by the Port Authority Inspector General’s office.
“Sometime in August we had an integrity monitor on the scene when he smelled the aroma of marijuana and he checked it out and it was coming from the port-a-potties. He reported it to us and we launched an investigation,” Michael Nestor, director of the office of investigations, told Downtown Express. He said they had made numerous buys over the past 5-6 months.
“The investigation is moving in another direction now,” he said. “We’re looking for the suppliers.” He also said that it was the first time the W.T.C. had had a narcotics-related incident, though there had been several related to smoking and drinking alcohol over the past few years.
A Port Authority representative told the New York Post that it was particularly easy to pedal marijuana on the job because there are few police officers walking around, but the Port Authority disputed the claim.
“There is no place at the World Trade Center site for those who want to use or sell illegal drugs thereby endangering their coworkers and the public. We will not tolerate this behavior, and those who try to get away with it will be caught, prosecuted and permanently tossed off the site,” Port Authority executive director Pat Foye, said in a statement.
– KAITLYN MEADE
