Suspect Slashed Reggae Star with Sword, But Did Not Cut the Deputy
NEW YORK (AP) Jamaican reggae artist Major Mackerel was slashed Sunday on the head, arm and hand by a neighbor wielding a two-foot-long sword, the musician and police said.
Major Mackerel, who attracted some recognition in the 1980s and 1990s as a dancehall reggae artist, was seen hours after the attack returning to his Brooklyn home. He had white bandages crowning his dreadlocks and wrapped around one hand, a wrist and elbow.
"I had a fight and I got cut," Major Mackerel told the Daily News.
The reggae artist, whose real name is Garfield Dixon, said he got into a fight earlier in the day with a neighbor, identified by police as Oscar Joseph, outside a two-story brick house on East 91st Street where they live on separate floors.
Dixon's girlfriend, Novia Watson, said that Joseph was angry because he believed Dixon had flirted with his wife, but the musician denied ever bothering the woman.
Police said they were called to the house about 8 a.m., where they recovered the sword and arrested the 37-year-old Joseph on charges of assault with intent to cause serious injury with a weapon and menacing.