This story is truly amazing. The first time I read it I had goosebumps.
His sliced ear was hanging off his face and his blood was pooling at his feet as 56-year-old Amarjit Singh stood on the corner looking desperately for help.
Then Singh gazed back up Second Ave. toward the Texas Smokehouse restaurant, where he had been preparing for another long day as a chef when the bare-chested madman came in and grabbed at least four knives from the kitchen.
The madman who had slashed Singh and sent him fleeing down to E. 34th St. was now up at the next corner, repeatedly stabbing a 67-year-old woman outside the Gemini Diner.
Singh instantly made a decision that proved him one of our city’s very best and bravest. This chef from Queens by way of India became New York royalty as he forgot his own wounds and dashed straight back into the mortal danger he had just been so lucky to escape.
The madman looked up from the bloodied woman and rose on seeing the courageous Singh approach. A 25-year-old onlooker named Antionette Brown watched amazed as the madman slowly backed up. He was clutching at least four knives but seemed unnerved by Singh’s uncommon courage and selflessness, as if Evil were being vanquished purely by the power of Good.
Now this.
Singh received plenty of adulation in the days after the attack, in which he nearly lost an ear.
The state Crime Victims Board is paying his medical bills, but Singh was left without a job or income when the Texas Smokehouse restaurant where he worked closed after the attack. It has yet to reopen.
He doesn’t get workers’ compensation or unemployment benefits and has not been told if he will get his chef’s job back.
“I would like to work again, but I have no idea when I will feel better,” Singh said. “It’s very hard.”
Readers can send checks to the Daily News Amarjit Singh Fund at GPO, P.O. Box 3307, New York, N.Y. 10116.
I’m going to send a check. If you feel similarly moved, please do as well (and forward this on?). Or, better yet, if you know of any chef openings in NYC…
5/27/13 – Tried to Google him to see where he ended up, but it’s too common a name…
Wow. That's all I can say.
A remarkable man certainly. At the risk of generalising, Sikhs are a martial race and courage is a constant companion to them. In India no one picks up a fight with Sikhs and they are quite recognisable with the head gear , beard and the metal bracelet. The restaurant business in India, both formal and informal sectors, is growing at 200% year on year. He is welcome to contact me if he wants to come back to India and start a restaurant business. I will be gald to help.