A crazed man 'repeatedly hacked into his wife’s head with a meat cleaver' in broad daylight on a Manhattan street as aghast fire fighters watched from their firehouse across the street and rushed to the rescue.

The incident reportedly took place Sunday at around 10:20am on Canal Street in New York City’s Chinatown neighborhood.

Jose Ortiz and some other firefighters heard a commotion from nearby Engine Company 9 firehouse.

Preparing their equipment for the day, as they do every work day, the looked over and were shocked at what they saw.

In front of a hair salon and novelties store, they say they saw a man dragging a woman down the street by the hair as she cried and screamed.

As the woman tried desperately to fend the man off, Ortiz approached them.

The 18-year FDNY veteran told the NY Daily News that's when things got ugly.

He said the 28-year-old man pulled a meat cleaver from his waistband and began hacking into his young wife's face and head.

'I would guess maybe six, eight, ten times, he hit the woman in the head,' he said.

Ortiz continued to approach the man as the attack went on. He said he tried to hold back the man's arm but he continued swinging the cleaver uncontrollably.

Fellow firefighter Shane Clarke and Jim Trainor finally came to Ortiz's aid and subdued the madman as the cleaver went flying through the air.

It was more of a struggle than Ortiz had originally guessed it would be.

‘He was not a big guy, only about 5-foot-5, but the cleaver made him a little taller,’ Ortiz said.

The firefighters saw a nearby police squad car, which they flagged down and the man was arrested.

Meanwhile, the woman fled from the scene panic-stricken and bleeding.

‘She bolts. Shane follows her, because I told him, “You’ve got to follow the lady, because she’s hurt,”’ Ortiz said.

Clarke was able to catch up to the panicked woman at a nearby restaurant.

She was taken to Bellevue Hospital where doctors say her face, back, and hip lacerations are not life-threatening.

Accustomed to terrifying and dire situations, these FDNY heroes feel fortunate to have come to the rescue so quickly but were definitely fazed by this unusual occurrence.

‘Besides the World Trade Center,’ Clarke said, ‘this was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.’

The attacker was taken into custody at the scene, where remains.


- Daily Mail

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2283952/Crazed-man-meat-cleaver-hacks-wife-repeatedly-head-firefighters-nearby-firehouse-rush-rescue.html#ixzz2LtL95SO2