Police are searching for a panhandler who stabbed a man with a steak knife inside a restaurant in Harlem.
It happened shortly after 2 p.m. Friday at Pee Dee Steak House on West 125th Street.
Police said the suspect approached the 30-year-old victim and other customers, asking for money.
“He said something to me, I was just like, ‘dude, get away from me, leave me alone, I don’t know you, like stop talking to me,” the victim, who didn’t want to be identified, told CBS2’s Jenna DeAngelis in an exclusive interview.
He said the man then grabbed a steak knife from someone eating.
He tried leading the man out of the restaurant to avoid anyone being hurt, but ended up the victim himself.
“Of course I was scared, like damn I got a whole knife in my back,” he said. “He’s talking, he’s doing all of this stuff. Why hasn’t he been moved out of here yet? Why hasn’t the police been called?”
A manager at the restaurant said the suspect also tried attacking him.
“As soon as I saw the knife, it was just like, ‘Woah, what’s going on here? Get this knife out of his hand, get this knife out of his hand,’” he said.
