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Ex-Con Cross-Examines Woman He Allegedly Stabbed While Cycling In Long Island City
By
John Del Signore
Published Jun 28, 2011
Modified Jun 28, 2011
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CBS 2
By
John Del Signore
Published Jun 28, 2011
Modified Jun 28, 2011
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Back in 1994, Eli Granger was sentenced to 10 years in prison for going on a bicycling stabbing spree, plunging a knife into three men as he rode around on his bike. Having repaid his debt to society, Granger was released. But the temptation to stab-while-cycling seemingly proved too great for Granger to endure, and prosecutors say he stabbed 37-year-old Eduarda Olivia in the chest as she walked with her 13-year-old daughter in Long Island City in June 2008. Yesterday, Granger came face-to-face with his alleged victim in open court.
Granger, 49, is representing himself in the trial, and yesterday Olivia was forced to answer questions from the man whom she says stabbed her without provocation that summer day. "I noticed someone on a bike coming from under the bridge," she testified, according to the Post. "I pulled Kayla close to me to get her out of the way. He passed us by and made a U-turn, and all of a sudden, I saw his hand close to my chest. I was bleeding. I started getting dizzy, felt like I was going to faint. I told Kayla to run and get help. The bicyclist pedaled back under the bridge. He looked directly into my eyes with a devilish look and never said a word."
When asked if the man who stabbed her was present in the courtroom, Olivia told Granger, "I came in here, and I knew it was you! All I remember are those evil eyes looking at me while I was dying. To stand there, to watch a person die—I could never forget those eyes." To which Granger reportedly replied, "My eyes are evil?" Granger also suggested that Olivia had been coached by prosecutors to identify him because he was the only black man at the defense table, and then he asked Olivia whether it was possible for her to have prevented the attack.
"How?" she asked, becoming emotional. "Can you please tell me how?" She then broke down into tears and the judge called a recess as she "collapsed crying into her husband's arms," the Daily News reports.
Tagged
eli granger
long island city
serial stabber
stabbing while cycling
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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