Jamaica resident Rahlik Pinnock was sentenced to ten years in prison on Thursday for stabbing a man during an altercation shortly after Pinnock tried to solicit the victim’s girlfriend to engage in prostitution in front of a Sutphin Boulevard liquor store in February 2022.
Pinnock, 35, of 115th Road, pleaded guilty on Sept. 25 to assault in the first degree before Queens Supreme Court Justice Michelle Johnson, who sentenced him to a decade imprisonment, to be followed by five years post-release supervision.
According to the charges, on the night of Feb. 1, 2022, Pinnock made advances toward a woman from inside his vehicle and then followed her into the liquor store at 115-30 Sutphin Ave. and tried to solicit the woman for sex.
The woman refused his advances and instead phoned her 22-year-old boyfriend and told him what Pinnock had done. The angry boyfriend arrived at the liquor store soon afterward and confronted Pinnock. The two engaged in a verbal dispute that escalated into violence when the boyfriend slugged Pinnock in the face. Pinnock left the store and drove away from the scene in a gray SUV.
The boyfriend walked several blocks to his home along with his girlfriend. As they neared his house, Pinnock approached the boyfriend from behind and chased him into the backyard, where Pinnock pulled out a knife and stabbed him multiple times in the chest and arm before running off. A family member of the victim called 911, and police from the 113th Precinct in Jamaica responded to the crime scene. EMS arrived at the location and rushed the victim to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he underwent life-saving emergency surgery for stab wounds that pierced his lung and into his heart. His girlfriend saw that Pinnock left one of his sneakers behind, later resulting in a DNA analysis linking him to the stabbing.
“After an earlier dispute outside a liquor store, the defendant trailed a man and his girlfriend back to a home in Jamaica and stabbed the victim multiple times in the chest and arm, causing life-threatening injuries,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said after the sentencing on Thursday morning.
Following the bloody attack, Pinnock became a fugitive, fleeing to Pennsylvania within 24 hours after the stabbing. Investigators tracked him down, and he was taken into custody in June 2023 and then extradited back to Queens on Sept. 7, 2023, to face charges.
“After evading law enforcement for 16 months, the defendant was apprehended in Pennsylvania,” Katz said. “I thank the members of the NYPD who never gave up on this case, and my prosecutors for ensuring that a just resolution was achieved in this case.”
