Steven Hutcherson: NY man who stabbed teen girls at Grand Central slashes Rikers Island inmate
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: A fellow Rikers Island prisoner was severely injured on Thursday, December 28, when a Bronx man, Steven Hutcherson slashed the inmate in the head and face.
Hutcherson is behind bars as he is charged with attempted murder for stabbing two girls at Grand Central Terminal on Christmas Day and harassing his ex-girlfriend in the past.
What did Steven Hutcherson use to attack his inmate?
The 1.5-inch ceramic blade that Steven Hutcherson used to attack the prisoner was not readily apparent; it was unclear if he had obtained it inside the jail or if he had smuggled it in through ineffective searching.
People who spoke under anonymity, because they were not allowed to speak to the media, said that the attacked detainee had four cuts on his face and needed roughly 200 stitches.
Around eight in the morning on Thursday, Hutcherson, 36, attacked the other prisoner. At the same time, he was housed in a jail dormitory at the Eric M Taylor Center on Rikers Island, according to authorities.
Hutcherson was subdued by a correctional officer using chemical spray, which is used in jails during violent incidents, a few moments later. The officer assisted the victim to a clinic on Rikers.
According to officials, the victim was later brought to Elmhurst Hospital and given the stitches there, The New York Times reported.
Hutcherson—who goes by Esteban Esono-Asue—was transferred to a different prison and kept apart from the other inmates.
Hutcherson, facing charges at Rikers Island, was placed in a group setting without special screening, according to former chief of investigations, Sharon Townsend, who expects the Correction Department to have a plan for him.
Steven Hutcherson stabbed tourists at Grand Central Terminal
Hutcherson had arrived at the Tartinery restaurant in the Grand Central Terminal dining concourse at approximately 11.30 am on Christmas Day earlier in the week.
The parents of two teenage girls, ages 14 and 16, were seated together in the restaurant.
Hutcherson used a racist slur when he sat down next to the Paraguayan family and said, "I want to sit with the crackers."
Hutcherson appeared to be a member of a white family, and he approached them shortly afterward, stabbing one of the girls in the back. He stabbed the second girl in the leg as the family tried to escape.
Officials and court documents state that both girls were taken to Bellevue Hospital, where the older sister received treatment for a collapsed lung.
Hutcherson is accused of two hate crimes - assault and attempted murder, the New York Post stated.
Steven Hutcherson accused of assault and harassment
In a different case from early November in the Bronx, Hutcherson was accused of assault and harassment for which he is currently awaiting sentencing. Hutcherson entered a guilty plea for the misdemeanor assault.
Hutcherson has had at least 15 run-ins with the law this year, according to Police Department records. He even harassed his ex-girlfriend's family so badly that they were forced to get a restraining order against him.
In an interview, Hutcherson's ex-girlfriend Charisma Knight, 37, revealed that she had dialed 911 seven times because he would not leave her family alone.
According to Knight, she had informed the police on several occasions that Hutcherson was suffering from severe mental health issues.
Knight stated that "then the girls would have been protected. They wouldn’t have had to go through that because he would have been incarcerated or in a mental institution, where he’s actually getting the help that he needs until he’s able to be released to society."
