An emotionally disturbed teenager murdered his father with a pocket knife early yesterday morning after receiving what he considered an unsatisfactory manicure from his dad, cops said.
Police arrested William Smith III, 17, and charged him with murdering his father, William Smith Jr., by stabbing him twice in the neck.
Police and co-workers described the 58-year-old father as a hardworking deliveryman for the Daily News.
After initially classifying the death a suicide, police arrested the teen after the medical examiner’s office declared it a homicide. Authorities said the son had a psychiatric condition.
“The father cut the son’s fingernails and he didn’t think his father did a good job,” a police source said. “So he stabbed him in the neck.”
A Hollis, Queens, neighbor, who asked that her name not be published, also said the son was emotionally disturbed.
“I think he just snapped,” she said.
Another neighbor said he often heard shouting coming from the 199th Street apartment.
Fellow drivers hailed Smith Jr. as a quiet, hardworking colleague who would do anything for his friends.
“When I started on the job, he showed me how to do everything,” said Earl Bannister, a former News driver now with The Post. “He was a great guy, but a quiet guy.”
Bannister said Smith Jr. loved playing basketball as a younger man, but injuries had lately kept him off the court.
“Anyone you ask will say the same thing: ‘What a great guy,’ ” added Post driver Joe Dimick. “It’s so shocking to all of us.”
Additional reporting by Ed Robinson