Mastic man charged in stabbing on public bus in Riverhead
A Suffolk bus entering a bus stop. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams, Jr.
A person was stabbed earlier this month aboard a public bus in Riverhead, and the accused stabber was later arrested nearby, according to the Southampton Town Police Department.
The accused stabber was identified as 23-year-old Rene Alexander Elias Chaj of Mastic, the department wrote in a news release.
Police were called about the stabbing just before 4 p.m. on May 2 after the Suffolk County Transit bus had just left the County Center and was going south on County Road 51, the release said.
The release did not describe the extent of the victim's injuries, any suspected motive, what precipitated the stabbing or the name of the victim.
The alleged perpetrator was believed to have fled on foot and was later found and arrested. He is charged with assault, criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a controlled substance, cocaine.
A Riverhead police department release said a person identified as Chaj was seen earlier on May 2 on surveillance video in connection with an earlier stabbing the same day at Time to Eat deli on West Main Street in Riverhead. The victim was flown to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. It was not clear whether Chaj has been charged with that stabbing.
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
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