Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., today announced the sentencing of MICHAEL HOWELL, 34, to five years in state prison for attacking three individuals with glass bottles in a Midtown Whole Foods and subway station in October 2023. HOWELL pleaded guilty in New York State Supreme Court to three counts of Assault in the Second Degree.

“Michael Howell will now serve a prison sentence for his attacks on three New Yorkers with glass bottles,” said District Attorney Bragg. “These were scary, random assaults that occurred at a busy time of evening, and we will not tolerate these types of violent attacks on Manhattanites. I know many of the victims are still living with the trauma of the attacks and I hope this sentencing can provide them a measure of closure.”

According to court documents and statements made on the record, on October 5, 2023, at approximately 6:30 p.m. on the sidewalk in front of the Whole Foods Market on 6th Avenue between West 41st and 42nd Streets, HOWELL hit a 24-year-old man in the face and head with a glass bottle with so much force that the bottle shattered. Less than five minutes later, HOWELL entered the store, retrieved another glass bottle, and hit a 49-year-old woman in the head and face in front of a food counter, again causing the bottle to shatter. Approximately 20 minutes later, after riding the subway one stop uptown, HOWELL repeatedly struck a 55-year-old woman in the head with another glass bottle inside a train car that was stopped at the Rockefeller Center station.

All three victims were treated at the scene and in the hospital for bleeding cuts and other wounds to their heads, faces, and bodies.

Defendant Information:

MICHAEL HOWELL
New York, New York

Convicted:

• Assault in the Second Degree, three counts, a class D felony

Sentenced:

• Five years in state prison

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