A man who was looking for a restroom ended up in medical clinic getting stitches after being stabbed in the face in Pembroke Pines, police said.
The man who was slashed went into the Pines Market at 9610 Pines Blvd. about noon Saturday “and stated that he needed to use the restroom,” an arrest report said.
According to the report, when Fawaz Zarif Hassan, 24, of Pembroke Pines, accompanied him to the rear of the business where the bathroom is located, the victim felt what he initially thought was a punch in the face but then realized “he had been stabbed on the left cheek area.”
In an interview with WSVN-Ch. 7, the man who was stabbed identified himself as Harold Williams, who lives in the Bahamas, had a gash on his face and a left eye that was swollen shut.
“It wasn’t until I looked down, and I saw him holding a kitchen knife, 8 or 10 inches long, and then the blood started gushing everywhere, and I realized I was stabbed,” Williams told the station.
Williams went next door to the MD Now Urgent Care clinic, at 9650 Pines Blvd., where medical staff treated him and called 911, investigators said.
Hassan is facing a charge of aggravated battery. His connection to the Pines Market was not detailed in the arrest report but he told police that after Williams attempted to go the back of the business, “he had to defend himself and stabbed the victim in the face,” the report said.
There was no evidence that Williams had a weapon or intended to commit a crime in the business, investigators said.
Surveillance video showed Williams entering the business and then retreating with his hands up after being stabbed, police said.
He received stitches for a 3-inch gash and could need facial surgery, police said.
Hassan was released from the Broward County Jail Sunday on $10,000 bond, records show.
Efforts to reach Hassan for comment Tuesday were not successful.
wkroustan@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4303 or Twitter @WayneRoustan
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