'I was so in shock' - 11-year-old East Harlem slashing victim speaks out
NEW YORK - 11-year-old Maxi Park, the victim of a random slashing attack in East Harlem last Friday, is hospitalized and speaking out after the shocking incident.
"Right after he cut me, I was like, so in shock," Park told FOX 5 NY's Lisa Evers.
On May 10, Park was shopping with her mother at 116th Street and Lexington Avenue just before 2:30 p.m., when she was attacked.
Park says she was sliced in the back of her head, from top to bottom, and only realized what had happened when she saw a chunk of her hair on the sidewalk.
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Her mother instinctively grabbed her hand and ran screaming after the suspect, who had fled into the subway where patrolling NYPD officers captured him.
"When she turned around, I saw her head being opened in half, a big slice, from top to bottom," said Malgorzata Sladek, Maxi's mother. "I saw her skull."
The vicious attack is just one of a growing number of felony assaults that are happening at a rate of roughly 3 an hour in New York City, according to John Jay College Professor Dr. Christopher Herrmann.
"Assaults up 15% last week, and that's a significant jump," Herrmann said. "We are getting into the summertime months when we typically see violent crime go up, almost as much as 30%," Hermann said.
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Maxi is expected to make a full physical recovery, but healing the emotional trauma of what she experienced may take much longer.
"This never happened to me before, so I was just so in shock," Maxi said. "It makes me more worried to go outside now and be free and roam around," Maxi said.
The alleged attacker, 30-year-old Shaquan Cummings, was arraigned Monday on Felony assault, weapons possession, and other charges and ordered to remain behind bars.
Doctors are keeping Maxi in Harlem Hospital to give the stitches and staples in the back of her head time to heal.