The man who stabbed a Times Square food cart vendor in an attempted robbery following a dispute over the price of a hot dog flashed a pair of scissors and screamed, “Do you want to die?” before lunging at his victim, Manhattan prosecutors said Wednesday.
The 32-year-old victim was trying to stop Malik Butler, 23, from stealing an e-scooter parked near his cart when the suspect flashed his weapon, but the vendor managed to wrestle the scissors away from him during the clash at W. 43rd St. and Seventh Ave. at 2:30 a.m. Monday, according to court records.
“I’m going to kill you!” Butler threatened as he moved toward the vendor, only to have the scissors snatched from his grasp. The food cart vendor tried to push him away, but Butler began pounding on him as his two accomplices, Kymani Santiago and Jeremiah Dilworth, both 19, joined in, according to prosecutors.
All three attacked the vendor as cops were called to the scene.
Fellow hot dog cart vendor Abelwitb Issa, 39, on Tuesday told the Daily News that he had tried to defuse the volatile situation.
“We’re working on the corner,” he said, recounting how a group of men had then surrounded the victim. “There are a lot of guys, maybe seven or eight. Some of them had knives.
“My friend… they punched him in the face at least twice, and they stabbed him twice,” Issa said. “I went to help. One of them came at me with a knife. I said, ‘Calm down. Calm down. I love you. Calm down.’”
A few moments earlier, Butler had stepped up to the victim’s cart and complained about the cost of a hot dog, police sources said. As the two quibbled over the price, Butler stepped away and tried to steal the e-scooter.
Responding officers apprehended Santiago and Dilworth by the food cart, but Butler ran off. He was ultimately tracked to the subway station at W. 42nd St. and Eighth Ave., where he reportedly bit a police officer trying to subdue him on the hand.
Officers jolted Butler with a Taser before taking him into custody, cops said.
The food cart vendor was knocked to the ground during the fight, cops said. After everyone was in custody, he realized that he had been stabbed in the chest. EMS rushed him to Bellevue Hospital, where he received 10 stitches for his injury. He also had a black eye and a split lip, police noted.
A co-worker, a 37-year-old man, was also punched and kicked during the fight but did not need medical treatment.
Cops charged all three men with assault, gang assault and attempted robbery. Butler was ordered held on $50,000 bail while his two accomplices were granted supervised release, meaning they were placed in a program that will ensure their return to court.
However, based on the severity of the charges, a Manhattan assistant district attorney asked the judge to hold Butler on $150,000 and Santiago and Dilworth on $50,000, prosecutors said.
Butler has nine prior arrests, including for assault and robbery, police said. Records show he was paroled in August after serving more than three years in state prison for a Queens robbery conviction. His alleged accomplices each have one prior subway arrest — Santiago for fare evasion, Dilworth for attempt to commit fraud.