Murder Charge After Man Fatally Stabs Another In Back During Fight In Suffolk: Police

MEDFORD, NY — A man is in custody on a charge of murder after Suffolk police say he fatally stabbed another man in Medford on Monday afternoon.

Joseph Norton, 20, of Manorville, stabbed Timothy Stark in the back during a fight on Express Drive South at Route

112 at around 3:30 p.m. and then bolted from the scene in a motor vehicle, according to police.

Homicide Squad detectives, assisted by 6th Squad detectives, charged Stark with second-degree murder. He was held overnight at the 3rd Precinct in Bay Shore for arraignment at First District Court in Central Islip on Tuesday.

He pleaded not guilty and was remanded without bail, online court records show.

Norton's attorney, Peter Mayer of Hauppauge, denied the charge, saying that he is presumed innocent and stressed that "these charges are not convictions," News 12 reported.

A short time after the stabbing, patrol officers found and arrested Norton at the intersection of Yaphank Avenue and Horseblock Road in Yaphank, according to police.

Route 112, heading north to the Long Island Expressway, still remained shut six hours later, while detectives investigated.

Stark, 32, who has no last known address, was taken to NYU Langone Hospital – Suffolk in East Patchogue, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Tanika Quashie, who was placing candles and a poster at a growing memorial for Stark, told News 12, "He was somebody, and I want the world to know that."

Quashie told the outlet that she and her coworkers at the DMV took care of Stark for "a long time."