MAN CHARGED IN STABBING: ‘PICKED ON’ FOR HOMELESSNESS
Chad Sanjay Bailey said he was tired of being picked on, police say.
WEST PALM BEACH — A man accused of stabbing a woman outside of a downtown sushi restaurant Friday night told police he committed the act because he is “tired of being picked on for being homeless,” according to a police arrest report made public Monday.
Chad Sanjay Bailey, 23, also told officers he had stolen a 10-inch knife from the Duffy’s Sports Grill on Clematis Street and carried it with him throughout the day.
Bailey is being held without bail at the Palm Beach County Jail on one count of attempted first-degree murder after he allegedly stabbed a 54-yearold woman in her neck without provocation. The incident happened at about 10:30 p.m. Friday outside the Sushi-Yama bar on Clematis.
The stabbing victim was dining in the outdoor patio area when she was attacked, Paul Deniga, a manager at the restaurant, told The Palm Beach Post.
“A few people were walking by when it happened. It was a random act of violence,” he said.
The woman was taken to St. Mary’s Medical Center as a trauma patient. She has since been released from the hospital, a hospital spokesman said
Monday.
Raphael Clemente, the executive director of the city’s Downtown Development Authority, was one of several leaders who met Monday with Mayor Jeri Muoio to discuss issues including security downtown.
“Any incident like this causes shock and alarm, as it should,” Clemente said. “I don’t think we have a proliferation of people like this walking around, but nonetheless, it’s still shocking and upsetting.”
Among the proposals discussed was posting new signs in the Clematis Street area warning against panhandling, according to a statement from the mayor’s office. Visitors can expect to see city police and private security guards downtown, particularly on Clematis, the statement said.
“A visible presence of law enforcement is very important, not only to deal with people who might intend to do harm, but also to help the public feel safe,” Clemente said.
It was at least the second time in recent weeks that Bailey has been involved in an incident on Clematis Street, according to police.
He also faces charges from a Feb. 28 incident in which he allegedly grabbed a heavy glass candle off a sidewalk table and threw it inside at
the bar at Rocco’s Tacos a block to the east, shattering more than $900 worth of liquor bottles.
Rocco’s General Manager Jennifer Brooks said Bailey was also spotted outside the restaurant Friday night and she was preparing to call police before he walked away.
He was released under supervision after that incident.
The home address listed for Bailey is for the St. Ann Place, a West Palm Beach outreach center for homeless men and women affiliated with St. Ann Catholic Church.
Downtown merchants and residents have complained to the city for years about similar incidents and not doing enough to move disruptive people out of shopping areas such as Clematis.
Muoio pointed out hours after the Rocco’s Tacos incident that the number of people living on the city’s streets fell by an estimated 14 percent last year, and that West Palm Beach is working with multiple agencies to provide counseling, job training, health care and other services.
“It isn’t illegal to be homeless,” Muoio said at the Feb. 28 news conference. “We have been working and will continue to work to help those who need our help transition to a more productive life off the streets.”
‘Any incident like this causes shock and alarm, as it should. I don’t think we have a proliferation of people like this walking around, but nonetheless, it’s still shocking and upsetting.’
Raphael Clemente Executive director of West Palm’s Downtown Development Authority