Queens man with knife in back said stabbing started with others' fight

JAMAICA, N.Y. (WABC) -- Those who saw Andrew Hardy just standing there Tuesday morning with a cell phone in his hand and a knife in his back were probably more horrified than he was.

"I try to keep my cool," said Hardy, 53.

He is still keeping cool, but although he shied away from cameras Tuesday just after the incident, he did explain what happened just before he was stabbed.

Hardy said he was waiting on the corner of Sutphin Boulevard and Archer Avenue in Jamaica, Queens, to go to the movies with his daughter Monday morning around 10.

There was "a fist fight between two guys," he said.

New York City Police Chief Robert Boyce said the argument actually involved more people. "It was an argument on the street with at least four people. Only (Hardy) got stabbed," said Boyce.

Hardy said several people offered to take the knife out of his back, but he said he wanted a doctor to do that. "It came close to hitting my hitting my lungs," he said. "Metal hit my bone."

He's also not sure exactly who stabbed him or exactly how things got so out of hand. "I got more damage than the dude who was actually fighting," he said.

According to the Associated Press, investigators have recovered video of the argument between the four men that preceded the stabbing. There have been no arrests.