Police have arrested a young man in connection to a Greenwich Village slashing that bloodied a restaurant busboy's face last week. The attack took place inside Silver Spurs Diner on LaGuardia Place on Thursday, February 18th just after 8 p.m. The suspect had reportedly been ejected from the restaurant as he was asking for donations for a basketball team.
The suspect, who police had described as a 15-to-17-year-old male dressed in jeans and a gray hooded sweatshirt, returned minutes later, blade in hand. DNAinfo identified the slashing victim as Bobby Barbot, who told the website that he punched the teen after he took a swing at him. But the young man returned with a box cutter and allegedly slashed Barbot in the face in the vestibule of the restaurant. "I didn't feel nothing," Barbot told DNAinfo. "I heard the blade smack my cheek. I just feel lucky he didn't hit my neck."
Barbot was rushed to Bellevue Hospital where he was given over 120 stitches for his injuries. “My face was all open, like a 6- or 7-inch wound,” Barbot said of his injuries. “I can’t do nothing about it now. It happened. I’m lucky that I’m alive.”
Following the attack, police released security photos and video footage of the suspect and a group of others both in and outside of Silver Spurs. The suspect is currently in custody at the NYPD's sixth precinct, and charges are pending.
