P.O.'d & slashed by church urinator
East Village caretaker attacked
A box cutter-wielding creep urinating on a car in the East Village slashed the neck of a caretaker at a nearby church who asked him to stop, the victim and cops said Monday.
John Mach, 54, received a lengthy gash that required 16 stitches after confronting the unidentified sicko, who was relieving himself between two cars at East 14th Street near First Avenue on Sunday.
“He didn’t say nothing, I just felt something hot coming down my neck then I realized I had blood all over my body,” Mach, a widower originally from Puerto Rico, told The Post on Monday, adding, “I didn’t know what was going on, and they said, ‘John, he cut you.’ ”
Mach, the caretaker at Immaculate Conception Church on East 14th Street, said the man “was trying to urinate between two cars, then on the wall of the church, but I can’t let that happen.”
He said he even offered the man the keys to the church bathroom, but the “unstable” attacker “started cursing at me and then he swung at me and I defended myself.”
“My shift was over at 3 p.m. I stayed because he threatened two of my colleagues. He said he had a blade and was going to slice them up,” Mach said. “He threatened me so I punched him, I defended myself, I knocked him out.”
The man left, but returned a short time later with a box cutter, the caretaker said. “Out of nowhere he came and sliced me while my back was turned helping a lady in a wheelchair down the ramp,” before running away laughing, he said.
He chased his attacker for more than half a block, but the suspect got away. He then walked to Mount Sinai Beth Hospital where he was treated and released at around midnight.
“I’m in pain and I’m aggravated because I wanted to catch him myself,” he said.
Photos released by the NYPD show the bearded man wearing a red and black winter coat, gray hat, black pants and pushing a rolling duffle bag.
Mach complained, “New York police should do their job better . . . we never see officers here.” He added, “I have to defend the church and the parishioners. I’m not letting anyone in the parish get hurt. I’d rather give my life.”