DA: Not hate crime
Extra charge nixed in knifing of Asian man
The man arrested for stabbing an Asian man near a Manhattan federal courthouse will not face hate-crime charges, the Manhattan DA’s office said Saturday.
Salman Muflihi, 23, was arrested and charged with attempted murder as a hate crime and assault as a hate crime in the Thursday night stabbing.
But prosecutors determined there was no evidence the stabbing was racially motivated. The charges filed against him Saturday were attempted murder, two counts of assault and criminal possession of a weapon.
“As we do in every case, we are continuing to investigate and may bring additional charges if warranted,” Assistant District Attorney Adam Johnson said at Muflihi’s arraignment early Saturday.
Muflihi, of Brooklyn, grabbed the victim’s shoulder and stabbed him with an 8-inch blade in the lower back as he was walking on Worth St. near the Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse around 6:20 p.m. Thursday, authorities said.
As Muflihi was running from the scene he muttered “I’m sorry,” court papers read.
Minutes later, Muflihi told security outside the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office on Hogan Place that he had just stabbed someone.
According to the criminal complaint, Muflihi said as he was apprehended: “I stabbed that guy. If he dies, he dies. I don’t give a f—-.”
The victim, who is fighting for his life at Bellevue Hospital, suffered a punctured liver and massive internal bleeding. Doctors were forced to remove one of his kidneys and his adrenal gland.
“This case is every New Yorker’s worst nightmare, to be attacked by a complete and total stranger with a large knife for no reason at all,” ADA Johnson said.