Police: Quarrel Over Pay May Have Led To Stabbing At Brooklyn Construction Site
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A construction supervisor was stabbed in downtown Brooklyn Monday afternoon, in what police believe might have been an argument over pay.
As CBS 2's Steve Langford reported, the construction boss was attacked in front of a building project on Montague Street near Clinton Street in Brooklyn. The victim was stabbed at the wheel of his pickup truck, allegedly by a disgruntled worker.
"All I heard was somebody say, 'Grab him! Grab him! Grab him!'" said witness Joseph Washington. "I heard somebody say, 'He just stabbed somebody! He just stabbed somebody!' and I just chased him down."
Washington said he managed to catch the suspect, who didn't put up a fight.
"I grabbed him. I took the knife out of his pocket," Washington said.
Police arrived moments later, while others tended to the victim lying on the ground. The victim was identified as Yakov Pfieffer, 30. The man arrested was identified as Andray Kumymar, 20.
One woman who works nearby told 1010 WINS' Sonia Rincon the victim was stabbed in the neck but tried to drive off.
"Jumped in his truck to run away and then I guess he realized (he's) hurt bad and he jumped back out," she said.
"It was horrible. His blood was all over the place," said witness Mary Francisquini.
Francisquini said the truck kept rolling until somebody else jumped in and stopped it, Rincon reported.
"It's really frightening," another witness said. "I felt really scared when I saw him."
That witness, who did not want to be identified, said just the sight of the stabbed construction boss he knew from the area left him visibly shaken.
"I saw this guy -- jumped out his truck, and was all over in blood, and hollering, 'Somebody stabbed me!'" the witness said.
Construction workers leaving the site did not want to talk on camera about the bloody attack against one of their bosses.
One of the workers at the scene said the alleged attacker was an electrician who worked at the construction site only a few days this month.
As for the man who said he subdued the attacker and grabbed the knife from him, he said he wasn't the slightest bit scared.
"I'm from the hood," Washington said. "I've seen worse than this."
Still, workplace violence on a busy Brooklyn Street in the middle of the day never fails to alarm.
Pfieffer is also a chaplain for the NYPD. He was being treated for non-life-threatening injuries late Monday.
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