Rakeem Young, 34, has been hospitalized after a machete-wielding attacker severed four of his fingers while he was walking his pit bull near Southern Blvd. and E. 178th St. in East Tremont, Bronx.
The incident occurred on January 24 around 11:20 a.m. Young told the Daily News that the attacker had an unleashed dog during the assault.
When Young’s pitbull Chanel went to greet the other dog, the other person allegedly told Young, “ ‘Yo, get your dog. I’m [going to] chop her head off.'”
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“And then the dude just swung the knife at me for no apparent reason. I remember lifting my hand saying, ‘No! No!’” Young recalled.
While trying to protect his dog, Young had four fingers on his left hand severed by the man wielding a 2-foot blade, according to CBS News.
“He just swings the machete and that’s when I throw my hand up to grab it and it sliced off my fingers,” Young told ABC 7.
After the attacker struck him twice following the initial machete assault, Young’s pit bull, Chanel, intervened by attacking the suspect.
Young fled down the street, only to realize his fingers were missing, he told the Daily News.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he added. “It wasn’t even painful because it was just, maybe because, my adrenaline and everything.”
Young told ABC 7 that if he hadn’t saved Chanel, it would have “tormented [him] for the rest of [his] life.”
“Every time I close my eyes, I replay it over and over again, and I have a hard time sleeping,” he told the Daily News. “If he would have sliced my dog’s head off like that, that would have broke my heart. That would have broke me for the rest of my life.”
The suspect, described as a dark-complexioned man aged 40 to 50, about 5’10” and 180 pounds, fled after the attack, police said.
He was last seen wearing a tan hat, pants, boots, a gray hoodie, and a green vest. Emergency responders recovered three of Young’s severed fingers.
After a 13-hour surgery at St. Barnabas Hospital, Young was transferred to Bellevue Hospital for recovery, according to CBS News.
“They basically put my pointer finger as my middle finger and my middle finger as my ring finger,” Young told the Daily News. “So I’m just missing my index finger. They couldn’t find the ring finger.”
Young’s mother, Kimtreese Young, told the Daily News that as of January 26, efforts were ongoing to find his missing finger.
He faces further medical procedures, including surgery to enhance blood flow to his reattached fingers. His mother has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help cover medical expenses.
“He’s a lefty. He does everything with that hand,” Rakeem’s aunt, Tashemia Young, told CBS. “He’s angry. He’s hurt. He feels unsafe.”
“This man is still on the loose. We don’t know if this man wants to circle back around and be like you keep talking about me, I can finish it,” Tashemia continued. “And he’s walking around here with a machete inside his pants. How are you not able to find this person?”
