Road-rage chef cut foe like sushi in Staten Island, say cops
BY BARBARA ROSS
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Updated Thursday, January 22nd 2009, 10:23 PM
An angry sushi chef was accused of treating another motorist like a California roll, slicing him up on a Staten Island highway Wednesday morning, in a road rage incident caught on an NYPD highway patrol camera.
Both drivers pleaded not guilty to first-degree assault charges in Richmond County Criminal Court Thursday, where bail was set at $20,000 for the chef, Yao Zhou, 35, and a judge released Jack Zaiback, 23, with no bail. Both drivers are from Brooklyn.
William Smith, a spokesman for the Staten Island district attorney's office, said the men were driving on the West Shore Expressway when something triggered their tempers around 10:30 a.m.
The highway hotheads pulled onto the highway shoulder, where they were found rolling around on the ground by Highway Patrolman Gerald Sheehan, said Smith.
"He [Zhou] sliced [Zaiback] up on the forehead like a professional," said Zaiback's lawyer Alex Grosshtern. "His skin just came off."
Grosshtern said Zaiback was solely a victim and has "probably 100 stitches" on his face and torso.
Smith said that Sheehan, who caught much of the fracas on a camera mounted on his car, separated the two, seizing a sushi knife from Zhou, who is accused of slashing Zaiback in the face, head and body.
Zaiback is accused of pounding Zhou in the face with closed fists and causing a cut over Zhou's eye.
Two passengers in Zhou's car, Ying Mai, 31, and Jiong Li, 22, both of Manhattan, initially were taken into custody by police but were not charged.
