By Jeremy Walsh
Two Queens men were arrested in connection with the non-fatal stabbing of an off-duty police officer in Chelsea July 16, police said.
Steven Goddard, 29, of Sunnyside, was arrested that night and charged with assault and criminal possession of a weapon, police said. He was arraigned last Thursday in Manhattan Criminal Court, the Manhattan district attorney's office said.
Police arrested Woodhaven resident John Valerio, 37, last Thursday. Valerio was also charged with assault and criminal weapon possession, police said.
If convicted, both men face a maximum sentence of seven years in prison, the DA's office said.
Goddard and Valerio were alleged to have been two of three men who got into a dispute with the 23-year-old police officer at 2:58 a.m. near West 28th Street and 10th Avenue, police said.
The men were allegedly saying increasingly nasty things about the officer's girlfriend, the New York Post reported. When the officer told the men to stop and flashed his badge, they allegedly attacked, the Post said.
The men allegedly punched the victim in the face and allegedly stabbed him in the torso before fleeing the scene in a light-colored car, police said. The officer was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital in stable condition, police said.
The officer was not carrying his weapon at the time of the attack, the Post said, in contrast to an incident the previous weekend in St. Albans.
During that confrontation, an off-duty detective encountered an assault in progress outside of a club, police said. The detective broke up the attack, opening fire on one of the assailants after the man allegedly pulled a gun on him, police said.
Reach reporter Jeremy Walsh by e-mail at jwalsh@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 154.
