Man Stabbed After Defending Friend In Washington Heights Fight

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — A man was rushed to the hospital in critical condition after he got stabbed during a fight in front of a West 177th Street deli on Saturday, police said.

The 47-year-old man was stabbed in the stomach with an unknown sharp object when he was standing in front of the Paloma Delicatessen at 667 West 177th St. around 7:30 p.m., cops said.

Cops told the Daily News that the man had been trying to help a friend that got punched in the face outside the deli when the attacker turned on him with the sharp object.

The man was rushed to a hospital in stable but critical condition, police said.

His attacker, who ran away on West 177th Street, is described as having a beard and mustache and was last seen wearing a black winter cap, a blue jacket, a gray sweater, black pants and white sneakers.

The Washington Heights attack was one of two times a person was stabbed during fights in Uptown Manhattan over the weekend.

A man also got stabbed in Harlem when he put himself in the middle of a fight that broke out around 2 a.m. in front of the Harlem Center shopping facility on West 125th Street and Lenox Avenue, police said. When the man stepped in, one of the fighters pulled a knife and stabbed him multiple times in the torso, an NYPD spokesperson said.

Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls are strictly confidential.