By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN CRIMINAL COURT — A homeless man accused of slashing a woman in the face with a pen went ballistic after she asked him not to light up a joint on a busy morning rush hour 3 train, prosecutors said at his arraignment Wednesday.
"I was just trying to light my blunt and the b**ch wouldn't leave me alone, so I hit her," Coroberto Cordero told police after the attack, according to his criminal complaint.
Cordero, 35, was ordered held without bail at Manhattan Criminal Court Wednesday morning. He was charged with felony assault, weapons possession and possession of marijuana in connection to Tuesday's attack at about 9:15 a.m inside a downtown 3 train traveling between the 14th street and Chambers Street stations.
"Leave me the f**k alone or I'll stab you," Cordero allegedly told the victim, who was identified in published reports as 45-year-old Evelyn Seeger of Nutley, NJ, before attacking her and sending her to New York Downtown hospital where she had to have four stitches, prosecutors said.
Cordero, who prosecutors said has a lengthy criminal record including several misdemeanors and at least one felony, whipped his pen from his pocket before stabbing the victim in the head, Assistant District Attorney Rachana Pathak said.
Cordero was subdued by other passengers and held until police could arrive at the Chambers Street station, witnesses said. Pathak said Cordero threatened to "come back with a knife" to attack passengers who restrained him.
The near-bald homeless man with a thick beard appeared in court Wednesday wearing a black zip-up hoodie. He buried his head in his hands while waiting on the bench for the proceeding.
Cordero's attorney, Sergio De La Pava, said his client is homeless but denied he had an "extensive violent history of violence."
Cordero is due back in court on April 25.
