One of the young men stabbed by a top hat-wearing thief in a bizarre Lower East Side mugging earlier this week said he and his friends were simply trying to help out a homeless man when they ended up in a fight for their lives.
“We wanted to do the right thing in our own way,” the 19-year-old victim, who identified himself only as Justin, told the Daily News. “I didn’t know he had a knife.”
Cops on Saturday were continuing their search for the suspect in the smart chapeau, who stabbed Justin and two others near Delancey St. and the Bowery early Wednesday.
The strange encounter began at about 1:10 a.m. when Justin and his two college friends stopped outside a nearby deli and began chatting with a 26-year-old man about a 16-foot plastic skeleton workers had placed outside the store as a Halloween decoration.
As they gawked at the gigantic skeleton, a homeless man walked up and offered to drop down and do 100 push-ups in front of them if they gave him $10 so he could buy some food.
“Sure, we’ll see what you can do,” Justin remembered saying.
The would-be performer was only able to do 51 push-ups, but Justin and his friends offered to buy him a sandwich and a water from the deli for his efforts.
The victims were exiting the store with the food when the man in the top hat showed up out of nowhere, swiping the sandwich and one of the victims’ fanny packs, which contained cash and credit cards.
Instead of calling the police, Justin, one of his friends, and the 26-year-old man they had just met took matters into their own hands. The homeless man and one of Justin’s other friends stayed behind.
“We followed the top hat guy down the street, going, ‘Yo, give back his stuff!’” Justin said. “It wasn’t about the food. The main reason we engaged him is because we wanted to get the 26-year-old’s stuff back.”
The trio quickly caught up with the man in the top hat and began fighting with him as they tried to wrest the fanny pack back, but the thief proved to be more formidable than they first thought.
He was also armed.
Justin said he didn’t realize the thief had a knife until he noticed that the 26-year-old man with him had been stabbed and was bleeding heavily. Then he looked at his own arm and realized he had been stabbed, too.
“He stabbed us while we were throwing punches,” Justin said. “It happened so fast. It was like at least seven slashes in just a few seconds.”
During the fray, the man in the top hat was no gentleman, Justin remembered.
“He was relentless,” the college student from California said. “We were punching him and nothing affected him. He screamed some sh– at us when we were fighting, but I couldn’t make it out.”
The 26-year-old was stabbed in the stomach, cops said.
“When the 26-year-old went down, I tried to find his wound, and I applied pressure. He was really bleeding out bad,” Justin remembered. “(The thief) ran off when we were trying to help the 26-year-old. I took my leather jacket off because I thought it would apply better pressure. He got me in the left bicep/shoulder area.”
His other friend was cut on the arm, Justin said.
Justin’s third pal, who he described as his best friend, was wearing loose pants that began to slip down as he ran, so he fell behind — a small blessing in all the violence, the college student said.
“I’m really glad about that,” Justin said. “My best friend isn’t the kind to get stabbed.”
The man with the top hat and the knife got away with the food and the fanny pack, police said. There have been no arrests.
Medics took the victims to Bellevue Hospital, where they were treated and released.
The accused thief is being sought for assault and robbery, cops said.
The attacker was also wearing a black sweatshirt and blue jeans and a baseball cap and dreadlocks under the tophat, NYPD officials said.
Cops released a surveillance photo of the stabber and are asking the public’s help in finding him.
“It’s such an absurd story. Especially the guy with two hats. It’s hard to believe it’s real,” Justin said. “I just hope he gets what he has coming to him.”
Cops are asking anyone with information regarding the thief’s whereabouts to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.