The suspect that police believe randomly slashed a passerby on Saturday afternoon has been taken into custody, according to published reports.
Francis Salud, 28, who is originally from Queens, was arrested at an apartment on East Fourth Street and Second Avenue earlier this morning.
Around 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Anthony Christopher-Smith, a social worker from Newark, N.J., was walking on Sixth Street east of Cooper Square to meet a friend when someone came up from behind him, shoved him down and cursed. His face and back were slashed in the process. As previously reported, Smith underwent eight hours of surgery, and needed nearly 150 stitches for the wound from his right ear to his lips. He has partial paralysis on the right side of his face because several nerves were severed.
The Post reports that Salud was out on bail for another slashing incident last fall.
Per WABC 7:
Salud was previously arrested and charged for a slashing that happened October 18 on First Avenue. It involved a dispute in a backyard garden with another man over a cigarette. The victim in that case is 30 years old and needed 73 stitches on the left side of his body.
The NYPD is determining the charges with prosecutors. The Post notes that Salud "is believed to have a psychological history."
Suspect Held In East Village Slashing, Had Been Charged In Similar Incident https://t.co/T4eyKxUqFY
— CBS New York (@CBSNewYork) January 21, 2016
Updated 9:18 p.m.
Back in October, DNAinfo covered the other slashing that Salud was involved in... the fight occurred in a garden behind Bellevue.
Police arrested Salud the next day, and he was charged with first degree assault, according to the complaint.
Salud was released after paying $30,000 bond, and is due back in court on Feb. 2, according to court records. A temporary order of protection was issued against Salud for the victim, the records show.
Updated 1/22
Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Gilbert Hong ordered Salud held without bail. The Daily News reported that Salud wrote about Saturday's slashing in his pocket calendar.
Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Man's face cut in random slashing on East 6th Street