Slasher ‘saved me’
Fishmonger hailed hero in fatal stab
A Harlem fishmonger who was allegedly attacked by two brothers praised a co-worker to The Post Friday for springing into action to save him — after the pal knifed the assailants, killing one of them.
Francisco Morales, 38, hailed colleague Junior Hernandez, who initially was charged with murder in Tuesday’s fatal melee over shrimp at the Fish Express Fish Market in Manhattan.
“I thank him,” said Morales — who needed staples to close a gash on his head and stitches in his lip — of Hernandez. “I have to, you know, for coming to help me.
“Junior is a person you call a good friend,” he said, describing Hernandez as a dishwasher while he is “the fish man.”
Malik Burrell, 25, was killed, and his brother, 29-year-old Robert “Bobby” Burrell, gravely wounded as they allegedly tried to swipe the seafood, triggering the deadly violence.
Bobby Burrell was arraigned Friday evening in his bed at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, where he was charged with felony burglary. A criminal complaint indicated he and his brother were caught on video entering the store, with Malik Burrell beating up Morales.
Manhattan prosecutors asked that Bobby be freed on his own recognizance when he is released from the hospital.
The murder charge against Hernandez in Malik’s death was downgraded to first-degree assault within a day — eerily similar to what occurred in the case of bodega worker Jose Alba, who fatally stabbed an ex-con who attacked him in Hamilton Heights in July.
Morales said the Burrell brothers set upon him after workers had earlier booted one of them from the store on St. Nicholas Place near Edgecombe Avenue for trying to steal seafood Tuesday night.
“The doctor told me they had something in their hands to break my face because they can’t break my face with their hands,” said Morales.
“Everything happened so fast. I only felt the pain after,” he said. “I knew my head was opened, but I didn’t know how bad. I didn’t know how bad my lips were. After they put the staples in my head and the stitches in my lips, I went to the restroom. That’s when I saw how it was.”
As the pair allegedly beat Morales, co-worker Hernandez ran up from the back of the shop and knifed both of them, killing Malik Burrell.
Police originally cuffed Morales when they arrived at the scene, mistakenly thinking he stabbed the brothers, Morales said.
“They took me to the precinct. My head and my lips were still bleeding. They said I am not arrested, so the ambulance came and took me to the hospital,” he said.
Hernandez — now facing the downgraded rap of assault over the violence — told The Post Friday he feels bad someone was killed in the fracas, insisting he was “sorry” and “I didn’t mean to hurt them.”
“Junior was defending himself,” Morales said, adding, Bobby Burrell should “go to jail.”