The suspect was charged with murder in the stabbing death of a delivery worker on the Lower East Side, then riding his bike away. NBC New York’s Jessica Cunnington reports.
Police say they found the suspect responsible for stabbing a Grubhub delivery worker to death last weekend, the same day the victim returned to his home country where family intend to bury him.
On Friday, officers arrested Joseph Sandoval on second-degree murder charges for the death of 52-year-old Sala Miah. The NYPD says Sandoval is the same man seen on surveillance video that shows the stabbing suspect ride out of the Lower East Side park with the victim's e-bike.
Video released by the department last week shows the exchange between the two men. The delivery worker is sitting on a park bench around 1 a.m. on Oct. 16 when the apparent suspect strolls up and sits next to him. Police cut out the attack, but the video picks up with the attacker riding away with the victim's bike.
The 51-year-old victim was slashed in the face and stabbed in the torso. He was found by a passerby who called 911, police say.
By the time officers arrived, the victim was in bad shape. Police say EMS transported him to Bellevue Hospital but he did not survive his injuries.
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Family members say Miah moved to the city a few years ago in hopes of finding work and supporting his family back home in Bangladesh.
"I'm thinking about his family," Miah's brother-in-law, Muhammad Ahsan, told NBC New York shortly after the attack.
On Tuesday, dozens came out to the Bangladesh Muslim Center in Brooklyn to honor his life before his body was sent back home. Family members had planned to bury him once his body was returned to the country.
