The man arrested last week for allegedly stabbing a bus passenger has been arrested for stabbing a man in a Riverhead deli earlier that same day, Riverhead Police said this afternoon.
Rene Alexander Elias Chaj, 23, of Mastic, was identified as the suspect in an assault at the Time to Eat Deli at 123 West Main Street in Riverhead on May 2 — shortly before he was arrested for allegedly stabbing a passenger on a Suffolk County Transit bus in Riverside, according to a police press release.
PRIOR COVERAGE: Passenger stabbed aboard county bus on CR 51 in Riverside; suspect arrested after chase
Police received a call at approximately 3:31 p.m. on May 2 from Maes Market on Railroad Avenue of a male victim with a stab wound to the abdomen, police said. The victim was treated by Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps and flown by the Suffolk County Police Aviation Bureau to Stony Brook University Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, police said.
Riverhead Police detectives responded to the scene and determined the assault took place at the Time to Eat Deli around 3:13 p.m.. According to the police, surveillance footage from the deli showed Alexander Elias Chaj stabbing the victim and fleeing towards Southampton Town, where he was later arrested by Southampton Town Police for a separate stabbing.
Alexander Elias Chaj was arrested by Riverhead Police on Tuesday and charged with second degree assault and third degree criminal possession of a weapon, police said.
Editor’s note: A criminal charge is an accusation. A person charged with a crime is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
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