Suspect Charged In Chinatown Meat Cleaver Attack On Wife
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A man charged with a shocking broad daylight attack on his wife with a meat cleaver has been hospitalized for a psychiatric evaluation.
As CBS 2's Weijia Jiang reported Monday, Ming Guang Huang, 28, stands charged with attempted murder, assault and criminal possession of a weapon, police said.
The attack happened on Canal Street on Sunday morning in front of witnesses and surveillance cameras, police said.
The cameras captured the brutal attack and the daring rescues by firefighters who witnessed the suspect slicing his wife up on the sidewalk from their firehouse nearby.
Initially, the firefighters at Engine Company 9, Ladder Company 6 heard a woman screaming across the street and saw the man dragging his wife, firefighter Jose Ortiz said.
"He pulls the cleaver out of his waistband and starts hacking at this woman," he said.
Ortiz said that's when he and other firefighters rushed toward the couple.
"All of a sudden, I hear the cleaver go up, and he swings down," Ortiz said. "We both bum rush him and get him against the fence. I'm trying to grab the clever, but he's swinging."
Joanne Fong watched the bloody crime unfold right in front of her business, Fong's Trading Company, at 74 Canal St., in the heart of Chinatown.
"Right in front of my face, Fong said.
As Huang allegedly hacked at his 23-year-old wife, Ortiz and another firefighter were seen on surveillance video pounding on the suspect. But they said subduing him wasn't easy.
"I rush him. I try to grab the cleaver, but he's swinging six, eight, maybe 10 times; he hits the woman on the head," Ortiz said.
As firefighters tried to subdue Huang, the victim took off and ran to a restaurant blocks away on East Broadway. Firefighter Shane Clarke grabbed a portable medical kit and caught her two blocks away while fellow firefighters flagged down police.
Clarke treated the woman for several injuries, although the language barrier presented a challenge.
"She was very panicked; afraid of us," he said. "We could see she had a really deep cut in the back of her head, wounds on her abdomen and torso."
The woman was rushed to Bellevue Hospital. She was initially reported in critical condition, but her condition was later reported as serious, but stable.
"I'm happy we were there to help," Ortiz said. "I'm sorry we weren't able to stop the whole thing altogether."
The victim is expected to survive. That is a relief, said a nearby shopkeeper who is not used to seeing such brutality.
Both Huang and his wife remained at Bellevue Hospital as of Monday afternoon.
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