More Details On Teen Who Fatally Stabbed Her Alleged Harasser

The 16-year-old Queens resident who stabbed and killed a man in or outside the 21st Street-Queensbridge F station only pulled the knife after the man tried to grope her, according to her family. High school sophomore Cyan Brown stabbed aspiring rapper Thomas "Black Box" Winston at around 9 pm on Christmas Eve when the 29-year-old — backed by five to seven of friends — tried to fondle her, her relatives said.

The altercation began outside the Big New York Fried Chicken and Pizza when a group of men confronted the teen, chased her onto the subway platform, and pulled her off a Queens-bound F train, according to police. That's when Brown stabbed her assailant and escaped, perhaps on a Manhattan-bound F train. But some witnesses said the stabbing took place on the street and that the men chased Brown into the subway station after the stabbing to try to stop her from getting away. The Times notes that no arrests have been made, no murder weapon has been recovered, and police have not yet spoken with the teen — who is in hiding with relatives in Brooklyn amidst fears of retaliation.

After the incident, Brown apparently told her 21-year-old sister Lynnea Adams that Winston had tried to force himself upon her before she pulled out the blade. “She didn’t mean for that to happen, but at the same time she had to protect herself,” her sibling said. “She’s a young girl. She’s a child.” Brown's father also defended his daughter's actions. "She said she feared for her life and she felt like she was going to be raped, so she panicked," the teen's dad, Tony Lovitt, 48, told the Post. "She tried to run away, but another gentleman grabbed her. She . . . did what she had to do. She was scared to death with seven or eight males following her. Anyone would do the same thing."

But relatives of Winston — who apparently know Brown through cousins who met her in a dance troupe — claim that the teen has violent tendencies. Winston's cousin Tedra Laws, 31, told the Daily News: "We can't answer why she would stab him ... She had a history of stabbing people. If you had an argument with her, she'd stab you." Another one of Winston's cousins claimed the altercation began when a boy who was with Brown bumped into Winston.

Winston — who lived in a shelter nearby and had been arrested multiple times on weapons, drugs charges and an attempted murder charge — was reportedly heading to his aunt's home with gifts for his 10-month-old son, who she was raising. “He said he was on his way, but he never made it,” said his aunt Diane Greenspan. “He was a person at the wrong place at the wrong time… He was trying to get his life together so he could get his child back."

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By Ben Muessig in News on December 26, 2009 2:32 PM

Comments [rss]

chris lee

"city's undesirables"

chris lee

The projects are concentration camps for the cities undesirable. This girl is an unwitting hero. No doubt she's no angel, but @ least she prevented this a**hole from assaulting other people.

sharpshoota

Update: She was arrested for manslaughter. Now they say she made up the story and she stabbed the guy after her and a friend purposely bumped into him starting an altercation.

Angelheaded Hipster

"If you had an argument with her, she'd stab you."

with just days left, the sentence of the year appeared

use_your_noodle

Ah c'mon! Just because his mama's brains and his daddy's brains wound up on their great grandparents thighs doesn't mean the rest of us should abandon compassion!

Venessa

that place makes awesome fish sandwiches

Think2wice

Enjoy Christmas in Hell...you all-growned-up crack-baby.

5borough

When will the station be named for him?

NannyState

Right after they make up the spin about him "turning his life around".

Amanda Harletsch

what is truly disturbing is that this "very valuable" man harassed and attacked the girl backed on the mob mentality of the GROUP of criminals that were with him!

He was acting with the help of others!

It is logical to expect all these scum bags to be jailed for for this attack on the girl!

Guest

chris rock's new MO: black people and "aspiring rappers"

Wza

I need to make memorial t-shirts for this rapper and the uzi rapper.

Sell 'em for $5 bucks in the Bridge and the Deuce.

Holler.

Sommelier

Sad thing is, they would sell. His family will be on TV, claiming that he was a good boy who never hurt no one.

Snoopy

I find it really strange that a loud mouth like Rev Al (I know it's cliche to bring up his name every time one of his followers get whacked but) doesn't own up and ask his followers to do something about this black on black crime that is a daily occurrence.

In reality he is just a loud mouthed individual that hasn't done spit for his "believers." Martin Luther King Jr. at least was ...

Never mind.

robingee

"If you had an argument with her, she'd stab you."

Really? And that was OK with everyone?

Amanda Harletsch

if the "informer" that says she stabbed people on a "regular basis", and by "argument" meant sexual assault, the stabbing then becomes defense...

perhaps the "informer" had the same type of mentality of the attacker: that this girl totally was asking for the assault ans she "over reacts" easily...

I bet this woman defends the assailant

Guest

hey, it's new york. you get into an argument, you find yourself losing an argument, and bam! checkmate.

robingee

Stabbing for the win!

Sommelier

"aspiring rapper Thomas "Black Box" Winston"

"Aspiring rapper", as in:

1. an unemployed young man with no education, training or work ethic but with a long criminal arrest record who believes that his ability to make grammar school level iambic pentameter rhymes that include claims of violence, criminality and sexual perversion will one day reward him with wealth and fame: an asshole, whose greatest contribution to society will be taking a bullet during the commission of a crime.

Rimmer59

It's one or the other dude, da coons see 50 cent in the mags with cuffs on counting a stack of bills, they can't get the bills but they can get the cuffs. Their business model is

1. Wear handcuffs and go to jail

2. ???

3. Be rich like 50 cent.