The woman allegedly behind a brutal knife attack at a Manhattan juice shop that left a worker badly injured after offering a drink for free when she did not have enough money to pay for it has been indicted on attempted murder charges.
The attack occurred just before 8:30 p.m. on April 12 at a store on 3rd Avenue near East 61st Street on the Upper East Side, according to investigators. The woman, identified as Cha'la Jamison, ordered a beverage but couldn't afford it.
The manager of the shop said that the worker, Luis Morocho, told her to take it and asked her to leave. But police said that Jamison became upset and started trashing the store, so Morocho called 911.
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"She saw him calling the police and said, 'OK, I’ll be back and I’m going to stab you,'" said manager Sam Alherish.
Sometime before the shop closed for the day, the 23-year-old Jamison returned to the store and attacked Morocho. Surveillance video showed her pick up a knife from the counter and dash to the back of the juice bar. Police said Jamison stabbed him in the head, neck, back and hands.
"She jump in grabbed the knife and stab him. He was trying to defend himself," said Alherish. "Nobody would think she would come back really and stab him."
She is then seen on video sprinting out of the store, with the severely injured Morocho right behind her, bleeding profusely and leaving a trail of blood.
Morocho was rushed to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in critical condition, police said. The cuts were so deep, NBC New York had to blur the images of him from the hospital. The store manager said his employee was lucky to still be breathing.
"He’s alive, that is the main thing. He’s alive," Alherish said after the attack. "Maybe this guy can’t work again because his arm, right arm, she has to pay for it in my opinion."
The criminal complaint stated that Jamison left behind a broken acrylic nail at the juice shop after her alleged rampage. When police knocked on the door of her apartment to make the arrest, there was no answer but they heard movement inside.
Police said that Jamison fled by climbing a fire escape and tried getting into another apartment, where she told the resident not to call the police. Police caught up with her and found she took a bag with her, which had the wig, purse, and shoes she was allegedly wearing at the time of the attack. There were also several acrylic nails inside, similar to the one left at the crime scene, police said.
Jamison was arrested five days later. An indictment delivered by District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Tuesday charges the 23-year-old with attempted murder, attempted assault burglary and assault.
Attorney information for Jamison was not immediately known.
