By Sadef Ali Kully
A young grocery store worker was charged allegedly with fatally stabbing his stepfather to death in their Richmond Hill apartment around 2:30 p.m. Sunday after a fight over the dishes, the Queens District Attorney’s Office said.
Police found 50-year old stepdad David Hightower stabbed one time in the chest in apartment on 114th Street, according to the NYPD.
His stepson, 19-year old Nickel Mclean, was standing near the scene and speaking on a cell phone, saying that he stabbed his stepfather after getting punched by him in the face, the police said.Mclean did have lacerations on his right hand and bottom lip as well as bruising and swelling on both sides of his face and was taken into custody at the scene, authorities said.
Emergency medical services took Hightower to Jamaica Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
According to the criminal complaint, Mclean returned home from playing soccer on Sunday afternoon and got into an argument with his stepfather, The college student allegedly told police the victim argued with him about washing the dishes and threatened him and struck him, the complaint said. The stepfather was stabbed multiple times in the chest, abdomen and arm and later died, according to court records.
“The defendant is accused of taking the life of his stepfather following a confrontation over washing the dishes. A life has been brutally taken and a young man, who could have had a promising future before him, is now facing the possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison,” said DA Richard Brown.
Mclean was arraigned Monday morning before Queens Criminal Court Judge Bruna DiBiase on charges of second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon. He was being held on $500,000 bail and will next appear in court on May 4, 2015. If convicted, he could face up to 25 years to life in prison.
Reach Reporter Sadef Ali Kully by e-mail at skull
