A man who was living at a homeless shelter at a midtown hotel says that he was slashed and stabbed there in April and he’s seeking to hold the city and others responsible for the attack, new court papers show.
Timothy Paz, 29, says he was attacked by another homeless man with a knife on April 3 at Hotel Mela Times Square — where a Brooklyn men’s homeless shelter had been temporarily relocated during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Paz “was caused to be attacked, physically assaulted, beaten, battered, stabbed, and slashed with a knife by another resident of the shelter,” the suit alleges.
Paz told The Post his assailant had been agitated and was fighting with staff and another homeless resident before he approached Paz picking a fight.
“I was minding my own business,” Paz told The Post. “He was a drug addict starting trouble.”
“We got into a fight and he basically cut me across my lip, across my neck, and he stabbed me on my chest and on my back,” Paz said. “The staff that was working there on the floor, they didn’t do anything.”
“It was surprising. I was trying to survive,” Paz described of the assault. “I didn’t realize that he cut me until the end.”
“I pushed him away. He kept on grabbing me,” Paz said. “When the security guards got between us, that’s when the security guard told me that I just got cut on my face and my neck.”
He claims the incident left him with “sustained serious and permanent bodily injuries to and about his face and body,” which have left him unable to go about his normal activities, the court documents say.
Paz suffered, “significant emotional stress and upset and psychological and physical consequences, causing great pain of mind and body,” the filing claims.
Paz said he had hundreds of stitches on his body — with the most on his lip and his neck. And he’s traumatized from the harrowing incident.
“Sometimes I can’t even sleep from this,” he said. “I always think about the situation. I get paranoid. I get depressed because every time I see my face and I see the scars.
“I’m trying to see a psychiatrist, so I can speak with somebody because this really messed me up.”
He is suing the city, Services for the Underserved — the organization that runs the shelter — and Allied Universal — the company that handled security for the shelter.
He says they failed to protect him, intervene during the assault and to properly train and hire employees, according to the suit.
“I’m trying to get justice for myself and I’m trying to hold the shelter accountable,” Paz said. “The shelter is supposed to be a safe environment.”
Paz also wonders how the man had a knife given that the residents have to go through metal detectors before they enter.
The men’s shelter is normally located on Ralph Avenue in Brownsville, Brooklyn but had been “temporarily moved” to the West 44th Street hotel “due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” the court papers say.
Paz said the residents have since been transferred back to the Brooklyn location where he is currently staying. He noted that his assailant — whose name he didn’t know — is in jail on charges involving the attack.
Paz said he’s now employed as a driver and is hoping to be placed in a permanent home with the help of services provided by the shelter.
The city moved thousands of homeless people from densely populated congregate homeless shelters into some 60 hotels during the pandemic to provide space for social distancing.
In June, the city said it planned to begin moving 8,000 residents back into the shelters but then in August it agreed to briefly pause the process amid activist backlash.
Paz is suing for unspecified damages.
The city Law Department, Services for the Underserved and Allied Universal did not return requests for comment.