SOHO — A man residents dubbed as the "Wild Man of SoHo" was sentenced on Thursday to 14 years in state prison with five years' post-release supervision, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office said.
Richard Pearson, 51, was arrested in 2014 after stabbing a street vendor on Broadway with a pair of scissors.
The street vendor, Baare Batchiri, was later given an award by the Street Vendor Project for heroism.
His co-workers said that before the attack, Batchiri was known to give Pearson, who was homeless, money or food whenever he saw him.
Residents had been fearful of the 6-foot-5, 240-pound Pearson for years, as he developed a reputation for erratic, hostile behavior. Pearson has been arrested more than a dozen times, including an arrest in 2013 after he was accused of throwing a brick at someone near Spring and Lafayette streets.
His lawyer after that arrest argued that Pearson's only crime was being poor in a wealthy neighborhood.