A verbal altercation between two men in Brooklyn over not uttering the words “thank you” for holding open a door led to one of them being stabbed to death, according to an eyewitness and police.
One of the men was stabbed to death in the New York borough after a late-night brawl erupted when one of them accused the other of not being polite.
The dispute started with a verbal slinging match in a convenience store on 4th Avenue in Park Slope around 10.20pm on Tuesday but escalated with the person who held the door out for the other being stabbed outside the store.
The 37-year-old victim, whose name has not been released, held the door open for another customer, also not identified, at the store and confronted him for not saying thank you for the gesture.
“Why don’t you say, ‘Thank you for opening the door’?” asked the victim, according to Kharef Alsaidi, an employee at the store.
“I didn’t tell you to open the door for me,” the suspect replied, said Mr Alsaidi to ABC News.
“It was just about not saying ‘thank you’ for opening the door for him,” the eyewitness said.
Mr Alsaidi said the verbal dispute escalated to a physical fight and ensued outside the store. In one instance, the victim allegedly taunted the man by asking him to “stab me if you can do it”.
The suspect, who was on his bicycle, grabbed a knife and allegedly stabbed the man in the abdomen 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 escaped.
“I tried to de-escalate the problem by telling the guy, ‘Just put the knife away. He’s not worth it. It’s not worth it’,” Mr Alsaidi said. “I did my best to de-escalate, but nothing worked.”
The man was rushed to Brooklyn Methodist hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The accused is on the run and police have asked anyone with information to report to 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.
