The man accused of stabbing two teenage girls in an unprovoked attack in Grand Central Terminal on Christmas faces re-arrest on Rikers Island after allegedly slashing another detainee on Thursday morning, New York City jail officials said.
Steven Hutcherson, 36 — also known as Esteban Esono-Asue — is accused of slashing a fellow detainee around 8 a.m on Thursday at the Eric M. Taylor Center on Rikers Island, Department of Correction spokesperson Frank Dwyer said.
“A correction officer quickly intervened to stop the attacker, and made sure the victim received immediate medical care,” Dwyer said.
The victim was taken to Elmhurst Hospital in serious but not life-threatening condition, he added. The Taylor Center holds detainees newly admitted to the jail.
Hutcherson was being held on Rikers Island after he was arrested on Christmas Day for allegedly stabbing two girls – ages 16 and 14 – who were sitting at a table with their family in the Grand Central dining concourse, prosecutors said.
The Bronx man was charged with attempted murder and assault as a hate crime by the Manhattan district attorney’s office. Prosecutors said that around 11:30 a.m. on Monday, Hutcherson approached a worker in the dining concourse, who then asked him to leave.
Hutcherson said in response, “I’ll leave, I don’t want the white man to get at you,” arraignment documents state.
Hutcherson then approached a second worker nearby and asked for a table. As the worker was seating him, Hutcherson allegedly said, “I don’t want to sit with black people,” and used an anti-white slur to indicate where he wanted to sit, according to the DA’s office.
Prosecutors said that shortly after being seated, Hutcherson stood up, walked over to a table where a family who appeared to be white were sitting, took a knife from his pocket and stabbed one victim in the back and the other in the leg.
The victims were taken to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, where the 16-year-old was treated for a collapsed lung and the 14-year-old was treated for a stab wound in her thigh, according to the DA’s office.
MTA police said Hutcherson was taken into custody less than a minute after the stabbings.
Court records show Hutcherson was arrested for two misdemeanor menacing charges on Nov. 7 and ordered by a judge to seek counseling and therapy in December.
The Legal Aid Society, which is representing Hutcherson, declined to comment Thursday.
Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association President Benny Boscio said the incident highlights why the city was wrong to pass new legislation banning solitary confinement last week.
“Today’s heinous attack by the same serial stabber who attacked two innocent teenagers at Grand Central demonstrates exactly why we need to maintain punitive segregation in our jails,” he said.
The fiercely debated bill, which was sponsored by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, requires all people in city custody to have at least 14 hours of out-of-cell time daily in shared spaces going forward.
Correction officers have opposed the law, saying they need to be able to isolate dangerous detainees to keep jails safe amid slashings and sexual assaults against officers.
There was no word on how Hutcherson obtained the weapon allegedly used in the jail stabbing. Dwyer said the department has recovered more than 1,900 weapons in the jails system this year. The Department of Correction is investigating the incident.
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