Press Release

HUSBAND CHARGED WITH MOWING DOWN WIFE WITH SUV AND STABBING HER

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Stephen Giraldo was charged today with attempted murder, assault and other crimes for allegedly hitting his wife with his SUV and then stabbing her with a knife. The couple’s three children were in the vehicle at the time of the incident in front of her Flushing residence.

District Attorney Katz said: “The brutality of the attack, and the fact that it was committed in full view of the victim’s three young children, stirs heartbreak and outrage in all of us. My thoughts are with the children.”

Giraldo, 36, of 144th Street in Jamaica, Queens, was arraigned on a complaint charging him with attempted murder in the second degree, assault in the first and second degree, reckless endangerment in the second degree, endangering the welfare of a child and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree. Judge Scott Dunn remanded the defendant and ordered him to return to court on January 12. If convicted, Giraldo faces up to 25 years in prison.

According to the complaint, on December 27, at approximately 5:20 a.m., video surveillance footage shows the defendant enter the driver’s seat of a white Ford Explorer parked near the intersection of Parsons Boulevard and Sanford Avenue. The defendant’s three children ages 11, 9 and 6, were seated in the car. The defendant’s 41-year-old wife Sophia Giraldo walked in front of the vehicle. The defendant allegedly told the children to “keep your seat belt on” and accelerated, barreling the car directly into the victim. After colliding with the victim, the car turned onto its side. The defendant allegedly crawled out the passenger side window of the vehicle and stabbed his wife with a knife. The defendant was at the scene when police arrived.

The victim was taken to a local hospital for treatment of her injuries, including severe neurological damage, broken bones in her leg and a stab wound that punctured her liver.

The investigation was conducted by Detective Robert Dibona of the New York Police Department’s 109th Precinct.

Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Camillo of the District Attorney’s Domestic Violence Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Appelbaum, Bureau Chief, Assistant District Attorneys Audra Beerman and Mary Kate Quinn, Deputy Bureau Chiefs, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for the Major Crimes Division Daniel Saunders.

**Criminal complaints and indictments are accusations. A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

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