QUEENS — A homeless man was charged with manslaughter after fatally stabbing a 19-year-old man during an argument over a seat in a Flushing internet cafe, the Queens District Attorney said Friday.
Paul Kim, 51, was using a computer inside the K&D Internet Cafe on Union Street near Roosevelt Avenue Wednesday when Yang Pu Fan arrived with a group of friends and demanded the homeless man give up his seat, according to officials.
A fight ensured and Kim stabbed Fan once in his abdomen, prosecutors said.
Fan, who lived a few blocks from the cafe, took himself to New York Hospital-Queens, where he later died.
“Senseless violence such as that which is alleged to have occurred in this case cannot be tolerated. As a result the defendant now faces serious consequences for his alleged actions,” DA Richard Brown said.
When police later arrived at the cafe, Kim was still calmly sitting at a computer.
Witnesses said no one had noticed Fan was stabbed and officers did not initially arrest Kim.
They returned a short while later and detained the homeless man, who customers described as a regular at the cafe.
Kim was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on first-degree manslaughter charges. He was held on $75,000 bail and is due back in court on May 12.
His lawyer, Ken Finkelman, said Kim was acting self defense after the group of teens came back to the cafe after an initial encounter and violently attacked him using brass knuckles.
Finkleman said the teens "hit [Kim] in the head and slammed him over a computer," adding that Kim was often allowed to sleep in the cafe after paying to play games.
Kim may have then grabbed a paring knife he uses as a tool and unknowingly stabbed Fan while trying to push the teens off him, Finkelman said.
"This is really a clear case," the lawyer said. "He’s not responsible."
