Suspect due in court in fatal stabbing at baseball field in Babylon Village
BABYLON VILLAGE (WABC) -- A man is charged with manslaughter after a fatal stabbing Saturday near a Little League field where kids were playing on Long Island.
28-year old Michael Grusel will be arraigned Sunday in the killing of James Moran IV.
Police say James Moran IV had been fighting with Grusel, who stabbed the 20-year-old in the chest. An off-duty police officer nabbed the suspect and cops took him in.
The victim's father, James Moran III, could not stay away from the scene - he wanted to see the spot where his son died a violent death, steps from a baseball field where Little League games were getting underway on a bright and sunny Saturday.
"A baseball coach saw the fight and yelled to them," said Lt. Kevin Beyrer of the Suffolk County Police Department, "Moran then told the coach he had been stabbed."
Friends of Grusel say the police have it all wrong. They say he is developmentally disabled, and a frequent target of bullying and other abuse at the hands of Moran and his friends. In fact, Grusel's friend Vinny claims that Saturday was the third time he was attacked in one week.
"There were five of them who tried to jump him, and he tried to protect himself. They pulled out a knife, he protects himself," said Vinny, "He grabbed the knife from them, and that was the end of the story."
Whether or not Grusel was provoked, and whether or not everything was self-defense, the case will be up to the courts to decide. He is facing a count of First Degree Manslaughter.
