Man hurt in Harlem slice & run
A HARLEM man was slashed in the face, leaving him with a 9-inchlong, 3-inch-wide wound, in an apparent random attack, sources said.
Ja-quan Deas, 25, told police he was walking back from a grocery store on Frederick Douglass Ave. with his girlfriend at about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. As the pair approached W. 147th St., the assailant walked up, slashed him in the face and right biceps without saying a word, and then fled. “This s--- hurt,” Deas (photo) told a reporter Wednesday. “But it’s not gonna stop our growth. We’re just taking it one step at a time. I’ve been through worse than this. It’s not a setback.”
Deas’ mother Caren suggested the attack was gang-related. “Harlem is not safe, and has many gangs,” she said. “Someone said that’s a gang cut, the way they cut my son’s face.”
She said he normally lives with her, but said she did not think it was safe for him to be at home Wednesday night.
Deas did not recognize his attacker. He and his girlfriend went to her apartment and called 911.