NORWICH – The Norwich City Police are still trying to piece together the circumstances of a Saturday night knife fight outside of a local bar which wounded six people, causing life-threatening injuries and permanent disfigurement to some of the victims.
At about 10:30 p.m. Saturday, police were called to a disturbance on North Broad Street in front of the Broad Street Tavern after a fight broke out among a group of patrons along the sidewalk. One of the men was brandishing a three-inch collapsible blade, reported Norwich Police Chief Joseph Angelino.
Angelino said the first officer to arrive at the scene found one of the victims laying on the pavement screaming and grasping his neck as blood gushed from between his hands. The officer immediately loaded the man into the back of his squad car and rushed him directly to Chenango Memorial Hospital, less than half a mile away.
Arriving nearly at the same time, a second city officer was directed by eyewitnesses to where the two suspects had fled from the fight, heading across North Broad Street toward Mechanic Street. The officer pursued them on foot and was assisted by a third city officer in a patrol car.
Police said the man who suffered stab wounds to his neck was later transported to Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse for further treatment. A second victim suffered a 10-inch laceration across his face and a third suffered deep cuts to his forearm that police said severed some arteries. A fourth victim was treated at CMH for unknown non-life threatening lacerations and stab wounds, according to police.
“Some of these victims are looking at life-long disfigurement,” said Angelino.
Police identified 24-year-old Roberto Jose Otero, of 6 South State St., Norwich, as the one who wielded the knife and injured the four victims. He has been charged with three counts of first degree assault, one count of second degree assault, third degree criminal possession of a weapon and tampering with physical evidence, all felonies.
Police also arrested a McDonough man believed to be accompanying Otero and involved in the knife fight, 33-year-old Bernie J. Infante. He is charged with second degree criminal nuisance, a misdemeanor, over the incident.
Police said Infante suffered lacerations to his arm and Otero also suffered injuries from the fight. Both were taken to CMH for treatment. They were released from the hospital and remanded to the Chenango County Correctional Facility. Arraigned in Norwich City Court, Otero was held on $50,000 cash bail and Infante on $500 cash bail.
Police arrested both men at gunpoint on Mechanic Street minutes after the incident took place. Both were taken into custody “without incident,” said Angelino. He said Otero was charged with tampering with evidence because he attempted to dispose of the knife right before he was arrested.
“Norwich police officers acted quickly and decisively in their life-saving actions and the apprehension,” said Angelino.
Police said both men appeared intoxicated at the time of their arrest and had been drinking inside the bar prior to the incident. Angelino said some of the victims in the case were also drinking at the tavern, but others were not.
Angelino said the fight began after there were heated words exchanged outside the bar and that police are still investigating.
Police declined to identify the victims, but said they were all male, local residents between the ages of 24 and 41. The victims were initially treated at Chenango Memorial Hospital. All required sutures, one required surgery in Norwich and another was transferred to Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse for further treatment.
Otero is expected to return to Norwich City Court later this week for a felony hearing. The New York State Police and Chenango County Sheriff’s Office also aided in the incident.