By Forum Staff
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Anthony Thomas was sentenced on Thursday to seven years in prison for stabbing a man in a dispute over a parking spot.
Thomas, 60, of Laurelton, pleaded guilty to assault in the first degree on May 10 and was sentenced Thursday by Queens Supreme Court Justice Toni Cimino to seven years in prison and five years’ post-release supervision.
Photo Courtesy of DA Katz
“No one owns a public parking space, even in front of your own home,” DA Katz noted.
According to the charges:
On May 23, 2021, at approximately 5 p.m., Gregory Williams, 49, drove onto Mentone Avenue and parked his car after moving traffic cones in front of Thomas’ house. Thomas came out of his home and yelled at Williams, saying he could not park there. When Williams would not leave the parking space, Thomas went back into his home.
Williams joined a group of his friends at a gathering across the street from Thomas’ house. Thomas emerged from his home again and screamed at Williams until a friend of Williams’ moved the car to end the dispute.
Thomas nonetheless repeatedly came out of his house to yell at Williams. He eventually walked over to Williams, pulled a kitchen knife from his sock and repeatedly stabbed Williams in the chest, abdomen and arm. The victim suffered massive internal injuries, a collapsed lung and other wounds.
The blood-stained knife was recovered in Thomas’ dishwasher.
“The defendant brutally attacked a man with a knife over a parking spot. No one owns a public parking space, even in front of your own home,” Katz said. “This type of escalation will not be tolerated.”
