A New York City man who allegedly stabbed teenage sisters from Paraguay at Grand Central Terminal on Christmas Day has been charged with attempted murder and assault as hate crimes. Police say Steven Hutcherson, 36, used an anti-white term before he attacked the girls as they were dining with their parents, NBC News reports. Hutcherson, who is Black, allegedly told staff members he wanted to "sit with the crackers" when he asked for a seat at a cafe in the Grand Central Dining Concourse. Police said that after Hutcherson was seated, he walked to the Paraguayan tourists' table and stabbed a 16-year-old in the back. He then stabbed her 14-year-old sister in the thigh, police say.
Police say Hutcherson, who also uses the name Esteban Esono-Asue, was arrested within a minute of the stabbing at the Tartinery Cafe. Hutcherson also faces charges of criminal possession of a weapon with a prior conviction and child endangerment, per NBC New York. The New York Times reports that according to police records, Hutcherson had run-ins with police at least 15 other times this year, and his mental health apparently declined in the weeks before the attack.
Charisma Knight, Hutcherson's ex-girlfriend, tells the Times that she obtained an order of protection against him after he kept showing up at her family's home. She says that if police had listened to her warnings about him, "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." Authorities say both teens were hospitalized after the attack. The 16-year-old was treated for a collapsed lung, but both girls are expected to recover. (More New York City stories.)
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