CHELSEA — A former employee of the popular Meatball Shop was arrested after slashing a manager with a knife inside the restaurant's Chelsea location the day after Christmas, authorities said.
Dashaun Clark, 24, of Brooklyn, went into the restaurant at 200 Ninth Ave. around 11:40 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 26, and slashed the 48-year-old victim, cutting his eyelid, upper cheek, mouth, chest and collarbone, according to the Manhattan District Attorney.
Clark then fled the eatery but was arrested that night, police said. Officers who searched him found a box cutter in his front pants pocket and a knife in his coat pocket, the criminal complaint said.
On Wednesday, Meatball Shop owner Daniel Holzman described Clark as a former employee of the restaurant who "had not been working for the restaurant for some time."
"He apparently came in... and had some sort of issue with the manager," Holzman said, declining to provide additional details about the attack.
A manager at the Chelsea restaurant declined to comment Wednesday.
Authorities did not provide any information about what prompted the assault.
Clark was charged with second-degree assault criminal possession of a weapon, the DA said.
He was also arrested for public drinking on Aug. 6, after an officer caught him drinking Four Loko on a sidewalk outside 110 Christopher St., according to the district attorney.
He is currently being held on $2,000 bail for the Dec. 26 incident, and was expected to appear in court Thursday, according to the city Department of Correction.
Clark's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
