Sword-Wielding Man Arrested On Upper East Side, Police Say

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A man swinging a sword on an Upper East Side street corner was arrested this week, allegedly after assaulting a cop who tried to stop him, according to police.

Just before 6 p.m. on Saturday, a witness reported a 33-year-old man standing on the southwest corner of Madison Avenue and East 77th Street, "recklessly swinging a sword on the sidewalk," an NYPD spokesperson said.

The man refused multiple commands from police officers to drop the sword — identified as a Japanese-style katana, police said.

Then, when officers tried to detain the man, he tried to remove the sword from its holster, punched one officer in the face and stomach multiple times, and tried to hit other officers, injuring one cop's hand, police said.

Finally, police took custody of the man, identified as 34-year-old Wilson Pichardo, a Manhattan resident.

He faces charges including reckless endangerment, assault on a police officer, resisting arrest and criminal possession of a weapon.

Wrong century. Wrong period.
Just wrong!

Calls of a man wielding a katana on Madison Avenue elicited a fast response by officers.

Following a struggle with the suspect, refusing to drop the weapon, & resulting in injuries to a cop—he was arrested with no injuries to the public. pic.twitter.com/jVocK4DkJN
— NYPD 19th Precinct (@NYPD19Pct) March 17, 2021

Crime rates on the Upper East Side have dropped by nearly 45 percent in 2021 compared to the same period last year, according to NYPD statistics. In the neighborhood's 19th Precinct, only car thefts have risen, while robberies, assaults, burglaries and robberies have all decreased.