MANHATTAN — An ex-con who spent more than 20 years in prison for manslaughter was arrested after slashing his cousin in the stomach and stabbing him in the butt twice on a SoHo street, according to officials and a report.
Walter McCowen, 45, of Queens, attacked his 37-year-old relative near West Broadway and Houston Street around 12:43 a.m. on Sunday, leaving him bloody with cuts, police and a complaint filed with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said.
Officers who searched the area found McCowen soon after and recovered the knife he used, the NYPD said.
McCowen and his cousin had been fighting on the street before the incident escalated, the New York Post reported.
The victim received treated at Bellevue Hospital and was in stable condition after the attack, the Post reported.
McCowen was arrested and charged with assault, attempted assault and resisting arrest, the complaint said.
In 1993, he was sentenced to eight to 24 years in prison for first degree manslaughter and was conditionally released from jail in May 2015, according to state Department of Correction records.
He completed his community supervision this past September, records show.
In October, he was charged with assault and harassment after punching a man in the face for looking at him after he bumped into the man’s vehicle on Vernon Boulevard, a complaint filed with the Queens District Attorney’s office said.
“What are you f---ing looking at?” McCowen asked the victim before punching him, according to the complaint.
The incident led to a fight between the victim’s family members, McCowen and another man, during which McCowen and the man punched and kicked several of the family members before fleeing with one victim’s cellphone and iPod, the complaint said.
McCowen was arrested several weeks later and is scheduled to appear in court for that incident on April 19, records show.
He is currently being held at the Manhattan Detention Complex on $50,000 bail for Sunday’s arrest and is expected to appear in court on Friday, city Department of Correction records show.
His attorney didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
