BUSHWICK — A shelter resident in Bushwick with a history of knifeplay and making violent threats bit off a foe’s finger Tuesday night in a brutal fight that left both men hospitalized and facing assault charges, police said.
The melee began when Ray Simon, 41, got into a tiff with fellow resident Curtis Watson, 49, at the Eddie Harris Residential Facility at 629 Chauncey St. between Broadway and Bushwick Avenue just before 9:30 a.m., according to a police and FDNY officials.
In the fray, Simon chomped down on Watson’s hand, completely severing his right index finger, police said.
Despite being down a digit, Watson proceeded to brutally beat Simon, knocking him to the floor and kicking him repeatedly in the head, according to police.
Emergency responders brought both wounded fighters to Brookdale Hospital, where both men were expected to survive, police said.
An employee at the shelter declined to comment.
Simon is already facing charges for a Dec. 24 incident in which he pulled a knife on another man in a building on the corner of Bushwick Avenue and Hancock Street and told him to scram, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney's office.
Police arrested him later that night and he was charged with menacing and criminal possession of a weapon, and a judge released him without bail after ordering him to stay away from the victim, records show.
But on Dec. 26, the day after his release, he broke the restraining order by calling up the victim at about 7:30 p.m. and and threatened him, according to prosecutors.
"I will f--- you up," Simon told the other man, according to a criminal complaint. "I got more machetes in my room, if you come to the building I will f--- you up."
Police rearrested Simon on Dec. 29 and he was hit with three charges of criminal contempt and two harassment charges, but a judge again released him the next day without bail, according to court documents.
Simon is due back in court for the December incidents Sept. 9, but neither he nor Watson had been arraigned for the Tuesday brawl as of Wednesday afternoon, prosecutors said.
