Manhunt Continues For Man Wanted In Upper East Side Road Rage Attack
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The search continued late Monday for a man who police said repeatedly stabbed a driver on the Upper East Side in an apparent road rage incident.
It happened around 11 p.m. Saturday on East 61st Street off First Avenue.
A witness said she was in the back of a taxi when a grey sedan ahead of her suddenly stopped. She said the driver of that sedan got out of the vehicle and went up to a blue Ford parked on the side of the road.
That's when that witness claims the man behind the wheel of the Ford got out of the car and stabbed the other man repeatedly in the chest. The victim has been identified as 45-year-old David Pizarro, CBS2's Hazel Sanchez reported.
"It was something from a horror story," she said. "I was screaming. I was scared and there was just blood pouring out everywhere."
She said Pizarro made it over to her and the taxi driver. She rushed to get help, but within seconds, the suspect drove off and so did the victim. He tried driving himself to the hospital, but crashed into a parked car on 76th Street and Madison Avenue.
"It was something that I'll always remember in the back of my head," she said. "How crazy people can be."
Police are canvassing the area for surveillance trying to figure out what prompted this incident and track down the suspect.
"So we have a lot of video in the city, we're scanning that video up and down the FDR throughout Manhattan north to see if we can find the plates and identify this individual," NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said.
Pizarro is now recovering at Weill Cornell Medical Center in stable condition, with police saying he is lucky to be alive.
Police said the attacker is described as a black male with dreadlocks, driving a black Nissan Altima with Rhode Island license plates.