Long Island Man Pulled Knife, Grabbed Man In A Choke Hold At Local Dry Cleaner: Police

GREAT NECK PLAZA, NY — A Great Neck Plaza man was charged with assault after Nassau police say he struggled with a 27-year-old man — holding a knife to the back of his head and then grabbed him in a choke hold — and injured him at a local dry cleaner on Saturday morning.

Officers responding to a 911 call about a fight at about 9:30 a.m. at Alpian Cleaners on Welwyn Road were told James Orfanos, who lived nearby, had gone inside the business and began to cause a disturbance in an area designated for employees only, police said.

Orfanos started punching and kicking a 27-year-old man causing him pain and physical injury, police said, adding, that then the argument escalated with Orfanos holding a knife to the back of the man’s head and put him in a rear choke hold.

Orfanos then took the man’s cell phone and threw it, causing damage before splitting in an unknown vehicle, police said.

The 27-year-old man, who suffered multiple contusions and injuries to his neck and
his left elbow, was taken to an area hospital for treatment and evaluation, according to police.

Orfanos, 33, has been charged with second-degree assault, menacing, burglary, and criminal obstruction of breathing, as well as third-degree criminal mischief, police said.

He will be arraigned on Sunday at First District Court in Hempstead.