Woman fights off knife attack at Deer Park Kohls

Woman fights off knife attack in Deer Park
BY EMERSON CLARRIDGE | Special to Newsday
7:34 PM EDT, May 10, 2008
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Digg Del.icio.us Facebook Fark Google Newsvine Reddit Yahoo Print Reprints Post comment Text size: A 53-year-old woman just finshing up Mother's Day shopping in Deer Park managed to fight off an attacker she couldn't see who pressed a 10-inch knife to her throat.

The attacker, who police said is a parolee with a lengthy rap sheet, assaulted the woman as she loaded bags into her car Friday. As she fought him, she screamed in vain for help, but no one intervened.

The Woodbury woman was attacked at 5:14 p.m. as she opened the door of her 2008 BMW and loaded the passenger seat with shopping bags following an afternoon spent searching for a gift for her mother at a Kohl's department store at Grand Boulevard and Commack Road.

The victim was talking on her cell phone with her husband when Carlton Frierson, 36, of 27 Washington Ave., Deer Park, grabbed her from behind, police said. Frierson put his hands over her eyes and held the knife to her throat.



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"He said, 'Stop talking or I'll kill you,'" said the woman, who asked not to be named.

For the next several minutes, the two wrestled in the car and on the ground beside it, with the attacker keeping his hands over the victim's eyes. The victim was punched, choked and bitten on the upper arm.

"He could've raped me, murdered me and left me to die," the woman said Saturday from her home. "I had to give myself a fighting chance."

The victim said she fought hardest when the attacker grabbed her keys and tried to put them in the ignition. "I knew that if he was pulling away, I was dead," she said.

During the attack, the victim said she noticed a few other people in the parking lot, watching. "They were just standing there."

As shoppers gathered, Frierson ran away, leaving the knife behind in the car.

After the attack, the victim said that one of the passersby, a high school-age boy, approached her and apologized, saying that he thought she was just joking.

Officers found Frierson hiding behind a trash bin in the rear of a nearby liquor store. He was charged with first-degree robbery.

Judge John Iliou ordered Frierson held on $500,000 cash bail or $1 million bond at his arraignment Saturday at First District Circuit in Central Islip. Frierson's next court hearing was scheduled for May 15.

Frierson served nearly 15 years in an upstate prison for robbery, according to New York state inmate records.

And even after being paroled in 2005, Frierson had been arrested several times before Friday and has been convicted of trespassing and theft.

The victim was treated and released from Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip. She was recovering at home Saturday and said she planned to spend a quiet Mother's Day with her family Sunday.

"I'm grateful that I'm here."

Re: Woman fights off knife attack at Deer Park Kohls

so glad the victim wasn't hurt

Re: Woman fights off knife attack at Deer Park Kohls

I read this in today's paper!
I cannot believe people were just standing around and watching.
Scary! Very Scary!

Re: Woman fights off knife attack at Deer Park Kohls

Re: Woman fights off knife attack at Deer Park Kohls

yeah, doesn't human nature totally suk sometimes?

what the #ell!! you're watching a woman being abducted by knife point. open up your cell phone and call 911 you moron!

Re: Woman fights off knife attack at Deer Park Kohls

Re: Woman fights off knife attack at Deer Park Kohls

that is SO SCARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Woman fights off knife attack at Deer Park Kohls

Re: Woman fights off knife attack at Deer Park Kohls

Re: Woman fights off knife attack at Deer Park Kohls

this is just outrageous that nobody called 911! in the age of technology I find it odd!

and im pretty digusted

Re: Woman fights off knife attack at Deer Park Kohls

Posted by Epeebes

this is just outrageous that nobody called 911! in the age of technology I find it odd!

and im pretty digusted

Re: Woman fights off knife attack at Deer Park Kohls

wow!!! so glad she's ok!!! my husband is always telling me not to walk & talk on my cell phone, he thinks thieves look for someone who's distracted to rob. absolutely appalling that people were in the parking lot and didn't do anything.....why the f would this woman be joking??? they should lock him up for good and throw away the key- I hate when I hear about someone who was paroled and then immediately commits more crime.

Re: Woman fights off knife attack at Deer Park Kohls

Thank God the woman got away without being hurt too badly.

Re: Woman fights off knife attack at Deer Park Kohls

Re: Woman fights off knife attack at Deer Park Kohls

I wouldn't have gotten close but I probably would have started shouting "Someone call 911" Even if I was already calling to let the guy know that cops are on the way.

I work right near there and was debating going to Kohl's after work on Friday- I decided to go to Mandee's instead! I'm so glad I did.

Very scary.

Re: Woman fights off knife attack at Deer Park Kohls

Thank GOD she is ok! She's a fighter and thank goodness for that!

I can't believe people just watched!! That is disturbing.

Re: Woman fights off knife attack at Deer Park Kohls

This reminded me of an Oprah where they set up situations to see if people would intervene. It is scary to intervene but think of how scary it is for the victim. I probably would have called 911.

Re: Woman fights off knife attack at Deer Park Kohls

Unbelievably scary.

Re: Woman fights off knife attack at Deer Park Kohls

Wow, I cannot believe that people just stood there and watched!! How do you misinterpret someone being held at knife-point and screaming as a joke??!!???

Glad she was able to fight him off tho, she's very lucky!!!

Re: Woman fights off knife attack at Deer Park Kohls

Thats sick. Thank god she is okay. People are crazy. I go to that Kohls all the time.

Re: Woman fights off knife attack at Deer Park Kohls

OMG! Last Dec. I had to ask a man to walk me to my car there because I was threatened by a disgusting man on line. He was belligerent and screaming at me over what place on line I was. He cursed me out and told me he would "see me in the parking lot." This was for one of their Midnight Madness sales, so it was a Friday night, 11ish. I felt so blessed that as I was contemplating on how I was going to get to my car safely, a man was walking into Kohls (at 11pm on a Fri. night!) Someone was watching over me!