Alleged Grand Central stabber charged with attempted murder, hate crimes

Manhattan prosecutors have charged a Bronx man with attempted murder and assault as hate crimes for allegedly stabbing two teenage girls at Grand Central Terminal on Christmas after using an anti-white slur, according to court records and police.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office says that around 11:30 a.m. on Dec. 25, Steven Hutcherson, 36 — also known as Esteban Esono-Asue — approached a worker in the station’s dining concourse, who then asked him to leave. Hutcherson said in response, “I’ll leave, I don’t want the white man to get at you,” arraignment documents state.

Then, per the documents, Hutcherson approached a second worker nearby and asked for a table. As the worker was seating him, he said, “I don’t want to sit with black people,” and used an anti-white slur to indicate where he wanted to sit instead, according to the DA’s office.

Prosecutors say that shortly after being seated, Hutcherson allegedly stood up, walked over to a table where a family of people who appeared to be white were sitting, took out a knife from his pocket and stabbed a female individual in the back.

Hutcherson then stabbed a second, younger female individual in the leg as the family was trying to get away from him, prosecutors allege.

MTA police say the girls were 16 and 14, respectively, and that Hutcherson was taken into custody less than a minute after the stabbings.

The victims were taken to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, where the 16-year-old was being treated for a collapsed lung as of Tuesday night and the 14-year-old was treated for a stab wound in her thigh, according to the DA’s office.

The Legal Aid Society, which is representing Hutcherson, declined to comment Wednesday morning.

Court records show Hutcherson, a Bronx resident, was arrested for two misdemeanor menacing charges on Nov. 7 and ordered by a judge to seek counseling and therapy in December. His attorney in that incident declined to comment.

Asked about the stabbings at an unrelated press conference Tuesday, Mayor Eric Adams sought to reassure New Yorkers they are safe in “high-profile locations,” such as Grand Central.

“That's why we have to make sure we zero in, make the arrest as soon as possible, and make sure we get those repeated offenders off our streets,” Adams said, noting the police commissioner would brief him on the incident.

Hutcherson is due back in court Dec. 29, the DA's office says.