A man brutally attacked his wife with a cleaver this morning in Manhattan in front of firefighters. According to the FDNY, the incident happened in front of Fong’s Trading at 74 Canal Street just before 10:30 a.m. Two firefighters, stationed at Engine Company 9, Ladder Company 6 across the street, saw the couple arguing when the man took out the meat cleaver and attacked her. “He got a couple of good hits in,” an FDNY spokesman told the Post. “He hit her several times.”
Jose Ortiz, an 18-year FDNY veteran, was one of the firefighters at the scene—he told the News he saw the 28-year-old husband dragging his wife across the street. “He was not a big guy, only about 5-foot-5, but the cleaver made him a little taller,” Ortiz said. Ortiz along with firefighters Shane Clarke and Jim Trainor were able to tackle and subdue the husband. “Besides the World Trade Center, this was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen,” Clarke said. The husband, whose identity hasn't been released yet, has since been taken into custody.
His 23-year-old wife fled the scene: "She was running down the street screaming, `Help!’ ” witness Jose Mendez told the Post. Mendez said she ran into a noodle shop on Eldridge Street at one point: “She was barefoot and went into the restaurant and then ran back out,” Mendez said. “There was blood on the window. They cleaned it up right away. It was pretty weird."
Cops and firefighters eventually caught up with her at Division and Eldridge Streets. She was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where she is listed in serious condition with lacerations to her face, back and hip.
