Stabbed by ‘friend’
Samaritan still stunned by knifing over food aid
A volunteer handing out mac and cheese in a Queens park to the needy has no idea why a homeless man he once considered a friend suddenly turned on him, stabbing him in the shoulder.
Daniel Deloir, 37, faces attempted murder charges for the brutal Sept. 21 stabbing of Rick Isbitiren, 43, inside Hoffman Park in Elmhurst, cops said Thursday.
The homeless man and Good Samaritan were both regulars at the park. Each night, like clockwork, Isbitiren would pick up food at a local church, bring it to the park and hand it out to those in need.
Initially, police said Deloir was enraged because Isbitiren showed up later than usual with dinner. But in an interview with the Daily News on Thursday, the victim said that simply wasn’t the case. The food arrived at the same time as always. Deloir attacked without warning, Isbitiren said.
“I didn’t feel him coming. I saw a shadow. I said, ‘You want some?’ And then I saw a hand on top of me and then I was stabbed,” Isbitiren said.
The victim recalled a murderous look in his attacker’s eyes, describing it as “like, a killing mentality. ‘I have to kill him.’’”
He didn’t realize Deloir was the stabber, who he knew from church, until later.
“Rick was about to grab the food and take it back with him, that’s when he went after him,” witness Luis Vargas told The News the morning after the attack. “He attacked him, Rick fell to the ground. And that’s when he stabbed him. And then Rick took off running back to the church.”
Deloir fled the park — but not before he threw a big pan of macaroni and cheese on the ground, remembered Vargas, who didn’t get to eat that night because of the clash.
EMS rushed Isbitiren to Elmhurst Hospital Center, where he needed emergency
surgery. The attack severed an artery and he lost so much blood he needed a transfusion, according to a criminal complaint.
Isbitiren spent five days in the hospital and is awaiting surgery on his hand because he still can’t move one of his fingers, he said.
He was baffled by the attack. Isbitiren said he and Deloir stayed in touch after the homeless man was kicked out of the church for reasons that were unclear.
“We were so close. I don’t know how he did that to me. There are so many question marks,” he said.
Isbitiren was devoted to helping the poor.
“I know how they feel, I know what’s going on in their mind. I try to make life a little easier for them. I am a nice person, and I am trying to help everyone,” he said, explaining he’s also been down on his luck in recent years.
Cops identified Deloir as Isbitiren’s assailant early in the investigation. Cops found him in Elmhurst on Tuesday and took him into custody without incident.
Deloir was charged with attempted murder, harassment, assault and weapons possession. A Queens Criminal Court judge ordered him held on $50,000 bail during a brief arraignment hearing Wednesday.
Deloir’s lawyer did not immediately return a message seeking comment Thursday.
“This guy knows my story,” Isbitiren said. “When I see him, when I talk to him, I can ask him why he stabbed me.”