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A verbal altercation between two men in Brooklyn after they refused to say “thank you” for holding the door open led to the stabbing of one of them, a witness and police said.
A man was stabbed to death in a New York borough after a late-night brawl erupted after one accused the other of being rude.
The dispute started with a verbal slinging match at a convenience store on 4th Avenue in Park Slope around 10.20pm on Tuesday but escalated with a man barricading the door to a stabbing outside the store.
The 37-year-old victim, who has not been named, held the door open for another customer at the store, also not identified, and was confronted about the no thank you gesture.
“Why don’t you say, ‘Thanks for opening the door’?” asked the victim, according to Kharef Alsaidi, a store employee.
“I didn’t ask you to open the door for me,” the suspect replied, Mr Alsaidi told ABC News.
“It was a no-brainer to say ‘thank you’ for him to open the door,” the witness said.
Mr Alsaidi said the verbal dispute escalated into a physical fight and outside the shop. In one instance, the victim taunted the accused, telling him to “stab me if you can”.
The suspect, who was on his bicycle, allegedly grabbed a knife and stabbed the man in the stomach and neck, according to authorities.
“The victim started screaming, ‘He stabbed me, he stabbed me’,” Mr Alsaidi said.
He recalled the victim “bleeding all over the floor” as the suspect fled.
“I tried to de-escalate the problem by telling the guy, ‘Just put the knife away. He doesn’t deserve it. It’s not worth it’,” Mr Alsaidi said. “I tried my best to de-escalate, but nothing worked.”
The man was rushed to Brooklyn Methodist Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The suspect remains at large and police asked anyone with information to report the crime to the New York Police Department’s Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or message @NYPDTips on Twitter for any information on the incident.
