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The 44-year-old victim was expected to survive cuts to his hands, elbow, shoulder and foot, as well as an injury to the bridge of the nose, following the attack shortly before 1:30 p.m. Thursday, July 20, Detective Lt. Fred Pulice said.
The victim staggered out of the long-unoccupied building at 215 West Englewood Avenue near Lafayette Place and collapsed on the sidewalk, witnesses told responding officers, the lieutenant said.
He was taken to Englewood Hospital and Medical Center and was expected to survive, Pulice said.
Officers checked the building and found Melvin Zacarias Esquivel, 22, “covered in blood and holding a knife also covered in blood,” he said.
They subdued him without any injury.
The victim later identified Zacarias Esquivel as his attacker, Pulice said. They’d been illegally squatting in the building when they got into an argument, he told police.
Zacarias Esquivel was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, illegal weapons possession and criminal trespassing and sent to the Bergen County Jail to await a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack.
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