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Machete-Wielding Homeless Man Slashes Woman in Bryant Park, Police Say

By  Murray Weiss Trevor Kapp and Sybile Penhirin | June 23, 2015 1:52pm | Updated on June 23, 2015 6:31pm

 Frederick Young slashed a woman in Bryant Park who was coming back from her yoga class, police said.
Frederick Young slashed a woman in Bryant Park who was coming back from her yoga class, police said.
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DNAinfo/Ben Fractenberg

MIDTOWN — A machete-wielding homeless man slashed a woman as she left a yoga class and was walking near Bryant Park Tuesday morning, police said.

Frederick Young, 43, randomly slashed the 31-year-old woman, whose name was not immediately released, as she was walking near West 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue about 11:30 a.m., NYPD officials said.

Investigators believe the attack was unprovoked, they said.

The woman suffered "a substantial gash on her right arm," said NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce.

She was treated at Bellevue Hospital and her injuries were not considered life threatening, officials said.

A Bryant Park Security officer pursued the attacker and sat on him before waving down NYPD officers who were in the area and helped him arrest Young, Boyce and witnesses said. 

 Police recovered the machete Young used at the scene of the crime, they said.
Police recovered the machete Young used at the scene of the crime, they said.
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NYPD

"The cops had their guns drawn. They were stomping on [the machete] so he couldn't get his hand on it. It was really sharp," said Kyle Newberry, who was working in the area at the time.

"We saw people running and ducking," said Dennis Duran who witnessed the arrest.

Police recovered the machete and brought Young to the Midtown South Precinct where he was questioned then later charged with assault, police said.

Young has been arrested 23 times before including once for menacing with a machete in 2010, Boyce said.

Passerby Michel Munevar shot a video of his arrest.

With reporting by Ben Fractenberg and Gwynne Hogan