Man Gets 27+ Years In Prison For Random Knife Attack On Center City Woman
By Tony Hanson
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A South Philadelphia man has been sentenced to a long prison term for a random attack on a center city mother outside her Pine Street home in June of last year.
Defendant Keith Blake, 48, was sentenced today to 27-54 years in prison for the bizarre, midday attack on the victim as she parked in front of her house with her toddler son sleeping in the back seat (see previous story).
"She was going to open the back seat to get her son out of the car, when this defendant basically came out of nowhere with this huge knife," notes Philadelphia prosecutor Erin Boyle.
As Blake thrust the knife toward her face, she reflexively raised her hand and blocked the knife, suffering cuts to her hand but avoiding serious injury.
Then, Boyle says, a courageous passerby intervened and chased Blake off. She adds:
"One of the things that's bothered me so much over the past year and a half has been, what would the next ten seconds have been like?"
She shudders at the thought.
Blake, who blames his drug abuse for the bizarre incident, literally ran right into police near the scene who were responding. One officer suffered a gash to his head that required 11 staples to close as Blake was being arrested.
