A man arrested in the Christmas Day stabbing of two teenage tourists who were eating with their parents at New York City's Grand Central Terminal has been charged with hate crimes.
The victims, ages 14 and 16, were stabbed about 11:25 a.m. “inside the confines of the Grand Central Dining Concourse” in midtown Manhattan, police with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, commonly called the MTA, said in a statement Tuesday.
The girls’ injuries were not considered life-threatening, MTA police said.
The suspect, Steven Hutcherson, 36, of the Bronx, allegedly approached dining area staff members and said something along the lines of "I don’t want the white man to get at you," according to a bail application. He then asked for a seat to place an order and told staff members that he wanted to "sit with the crackers," an anti-white slur, it says.
After Hutcherson was given a seat, he stood up and walked toward a table where the teens, who appeared to be white, were seated with their family and stabbed the 16-year-old in the back in an "unprovoked" attack, the application alleges.
As the family tried to get away, he allegedly stabbed the 14-year-old in the thigh.
Hutcherson was captured “less than one minute after the initial report by officers posted nearby, without further incident,” MTA police said.
He was charged with second-degree attempted murder, first- and second-degree assault and first-degree attempted assault — all as hate crimes — the Manhattan district attorney’s office said. He was also charged with endangering the welfare of a child.
The Legal Aid Society, which is representing Hutcherson, declined to comment Wednesday.
The girls and their parents were visiting New York City over the holidays and were dining at the Tartinery Cafe Bar, according to NBC New York.
Both girls were taken to Bellevue Hospital, MTA police said. The 16-year-old has a collapsed lung.
The manager of Tartinery told the station that she noticed the suspect acting erratically before the stabbing.
“They had no idea he was even there, and he just pulled out a knife and stabbed one girl in the back,” she said.
Hutcherson, who also uses the name Esteban Esono-Asue, has a lengthy criminal history. He has two felony convictions and nine misdemeanor convictions, the district attorney's office said. He also has multiple open cases in connection with other offenses, including criminal contempt and menacing.
He is scheduled to appear in court Friday.