The homeless repeat offender who senselessly stabbed a tourist strolling with her teen daughter near Times Square over the weekend has been charged with felony assault, cops said Monday.
Cyril Destin, 62, was charged with second-degree assault, as well as fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a misdemeanor, in connection to the caught-on-video knifing of a 36-year-old Pennsylvania woman at West 43rd Street and Eighth Avenue on Saturday evening, police said.
Shocking video of the unprovoked attack shows Destin using a walker to exit Port Gourmet Deli at the corner and loitering outside the storefront before lunging at the unsuspecting victim with a large knife – in front of her teen daughter and another woman.
The three women are seen backing away from Destin, who calmly returns to his seat outside the storefront with the knife on display on his lap.
About two minutes later, two police officers approach Destin, get him to drop the knife and place him in handcuffs, the footage shows.
The injured tourist was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where she was treated for a stab wound to the chest.
Destin – who lives at a shelter across the street from the deli – has been arrested 14 times over the past 20 years, with the most recent bust on July 30, 2022 for criminal mischief, law enforcement sources said.
His rap sheet, which dates back 20 years, also includes arrests for menacing, petit larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, criminal trespass and theft of service, according to the sources.
Destin also has an extensive history as an “emotionally disturbed person,” including erratic, sometimes destructive behavior at the homeless shelter where he was staying, sources said.
Last December, he allegedly chucked a chair halfway through a window at the shelter, shattering the glass, the sources said.
Authorities needed to force him into treatment at Bellevue, since he wouldn’t go voluntarily, the sources said.
In April 2022, he cursed at staff and verbally threatened them, as well as responding cops, according to the sources.
And in December 2019, he was sitting out in the cold with swollen feet when he reported having hallucinations, the sources said.
He was taken to Bellevue for treatment.
Destin’s arraignment in connection to the Saturday attack was pending Monday.
