Times Sq. slash
Hate-spewing ex-con attacks vic: cops
A homeless ex-con shouted racial slurs at a Queens man visiting Times Square with a pal — then slashed him in the face early Monday, police said.
“I’m glad I’m alive. Thank God it didn’t happen to anybody else,” said Elsayed Elsayed, 42, who was slashed by Nestor Galindo, 33, with a pocketknife at West 45th Street and Seventh Avenue at around 12:10 a.m., cops said.
Elsayed was with a friend visiting from his native Egypt when Galindo, accidently kicked the pal in the leg.
“I look at him and I smile and I say, ‘Hey buddy, what’s up? You hit him,’ ” Elsayed said. “And he said, ‘F--k you, I’m not your buddy.’ ” Galindo then threatened to “cut” him and called him a “f--king n----r,” the victim said.
“He said go back to your country . . . I’ll cut you!” claimed Elsayed, who works as a security guard. “I said, ‘This is my country, too!’ ”
They argued for a few more seconds, then Elsayed tried to walk away — but Galindo jumped on his back and slashed him on the right side of his face, Elsayed said.
“I thought it was my friend joking with me. And then I felt something hit me in my face, and I saw him with a knife,” he said. “He was a professional — he knows what to do. He covered the knife with his finger so people couldn’t see it.”
Elsayed said he kicked his attacker, who continued to lunge at him, and screamed for passers-by to call the police.
When Galindo ran, Elsayed followed him until cops could make an arrest.
Galindo, who has been busted 16 times before, was charged Monday with assault and criminal possession of a weapon.
Elsayed moved to the United States from Egypt, where he once worked as an air marshal for Egypt Air, in 2010. Without his training, the attack could have been much worse, he said.
“What if a weak guy or a small guy or a young guy gets attacked by him? [The victim] can’t protect himself,” Elsayed said. “He will kill him.”