‘Barberous’ blood battle
Man slashed in downtown salon
A 27-year-old man survived a Lower East Side barber shop bloodbath where his throat was slashed by a knife-wielding customer during a Thursday morning melee, cops and witnesses said.
Video showed the unidentified victim reeling and covered in blood on the sidewalk outside the First Choice Barber Shop, where 35-year-old Aldo Corniel attacked him shortly after 11 a.m. on Stanton St., cops said. A third man came to the carved-up victim’s aid, bashing Corniel with a fire extinguisher before the cops arrived and put the suspect in handcuffs.
“I don’t know if he was the barber or the customer, but he got a close shave,” said witness Mark Pavlat, 60, of the victim.
The bug-eyed and bleeding man, his T-shirt shredded and his white pants spattered with blood, was staggering aimlessly when a good Samaritan gave him a towel to stanch the heavy bleeding. Even the victim’s white Adidas sneakers were red with gore as he leaned against a building around the corner.
“The victim breaks free and runs into the street when I started filming,” said Pavlat, who shot video of the brawl’s aftermath. “He’s covered in blood. Blood is pumping out of his jugular vein. The other guy disappeared back into the shop.”
An initial argument between the two men seemingly ended when Corniel left the barber shop, only to barge back inside minutes later and attack the younger man with his knife, cops said. Long Island resident Pavlat was walking past the barber shop on his way to a business meeting when he spied the wild brawl.
“I heard this commotion,” he told the Daily News. “I saw two men wrestling on the floor just inside the entrance door . [A third man] starts bashing the attacker on the head.”
Police appeared quickly: two officers — one with her gun drawn — went into the barber shop to corral the suspect after a man pointed inside the building.
“Please be careful!” shouted a woman on the street. “He’s got a knife!”
Medics rushed the victim to Bellevue Hospital, where he was in stable condition. A second Pavlat video captured Corniel in cuffs as he was led to a patrol car bound for the 7th Precinct, where he was charged with attempted murder and assault.