14°
The 30-year-old victim was leaving the Sylvan Avenue (Route 9W) facility shortly after 5:30 p.m. Friday, June 14, when Harshkuma H. Patel, 29, of Piscataway, approached her in the parking lot, the prosecutor said.
The accused assailant, who 'd previously been seen hanging around the area, tapped on the woman's car window in the CNBC parking lot, sources said.
The victim, who didn't know Patel, opened the window, and he reached in with a knife, one of them told Daily Voice.
She put up her hand as Patel began jabbing at her, the source said.
Patel fled after cutting her several times, Musella said on Sunday.
Englewood Cliffs police who were first on the scene applied a tourniquet to the woman's arm, saving her life, according to sources.
She rushed by ambulance to the trauma unit at Hackensack University Medical Center and was later released after being treated, the prosecutor said.
"[Patel] was a stranger to the victim, and the attack was unprovoked," Musella noted.
Detectives from his Major Crimes Unit and Englewood Cliffs police were assisted by the New Jersey State Police Fugitive Task Force and Piscataway police in capturing the 5-foot-8-inch, 190-pound "Harsh" Patel outside his Middlesex County home on Sunday, the prosecutor said.
Patel was booked into the Bergen County Jail a short time later to await a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack. He's charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, criminal attempt and weapons offenses.
Jail records list Patel as an American citizen born in the United States.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Edison and receive free news updates.
