Crime & Safety

Attempted Homicide Charge Dropped in Stabbing

Brooklyn, N.Y., man who stabbed a co-worker in a Bethlehem Township hotel pleads guilty to simple assault, harassment and will spend no more than 11 months in jail.

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A Brooklyn, N.Y., man who stabbed a co-worker in the chest in a hotel parking lot in Bethlehem Township will serve between 5Β½ and 11 months in Northampton County Prison as a result of his plea deal in court, The Express Times reported.

Asani Wahid Elliott, 20, pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment, simple assault and harassment before Northampton County Judge Anthony Beltrami on Tuesday, the newspaper reported.

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Elliott had also been charged with attempted homicide and aggravated assault, but those charges went away in the plea deal.

The newspaper report said prosecutors were dealing with an uncooperative victim, Vincent Dukes of Alverne, N.Y., in the case. Prosecutors had reportedly lost contact with Dukes as the case moved forward and only located him in New York on Tuesday.

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Elliott, meanwhile, was hoping to keep his sentence to less than six months in prison to preserve his chances of becoming a U.S. citizen, the newspaper reported. He is a Jamaican immigrant.

According to police, Elliott took a 5-inch-long serrated steak knife and stabbed Dukes in the chest, under his left arm, during a scuffle outside the Comfort Inn hotel July 5. The blow punctured Dukes’ left lung and caused the left side of his lung to collapse.

It was the second physical struggle the two men had within minutes of one another. The argument began in front of the State Liquor Store in the Bethlehem Square Shopping Center.

Dukes became angry with Elliott because the store would not sell him and his friends alcohol because Elliott was underage. Outside the store, the two men shouted at each other and Dukes punched Elliott in the mouth, according to the arrest warrant.


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