Suspect charged in vicious Hempstead stabbing.
A Long Island man was arraigned today on charges he knifed a neighbor — stabbing that victim 11 times — inside a Hempstead apartment building last month.
Thomas Bell, 27, pleaded Not Guilty to Attempted Murder and Assault in connection with a stabbing on the first floor of 100 Terrace Avenue, around 1:00 a.m. on September 4, 2023.
Judge Jaclene Agazarian set Bell’s bail bond at $2 Million.
The knife wounds were deep, say Hempstead Police, causing “substantial blood loss” before medics arrived. The victim was rushed by ambulance to Winthrop Hospital in Mineola, where he received life-saving emergency surgery from a trauma team, they said.
Incredibly, the victim has survived.
Now police say they have the man with the knife.
Bell was previously convicted of Attempted Assault and Attempted Escape at upstate Fishkill Prison, where he served a 3-year sentence. Inmate records indicate he was released last year on parole.
But Court records show Bell currently has other open criminal cases. He was arrested in 2022 on charges of smuggling contraband into the Nassau County Jail in East Meadow. Bell has also been arrested — several times — on Felony Assault charges, including an attack on a fellow inmate when he was held on bail.
Bell was indicted in May 2022 by a Grand Jury in an Armed Robbery carjacking case. In July 2022 he was indicted on Narcotics charges.
Today, Bell was charged with:
* Attempted Murder under N.Y. Penal Law 110-125.25 01, a B Felony;
* Assault with a weapon under Penal Law 120.10 01, a B Felony;
* Weapon Possession under Penal Law 265.02 01, a D Felony; and
* Assault causing serious injury under Penal Law 120.05 01, a D Felony.
His next court date — on this case — is Thursday, October 19, 2023. His 18B public defender on the other cases, Mineola defense lawyer Maureen McBride, is expected to represent him in this case, too.
