Good Samaritan stabbed to death in Brooklyn Chinatown fight

DAILY NEWS

Jin Zheng has her tears wiped away by her 4-year old son.

An arrest was made Sunday for the fatal stabbing of a Good Samaritan who tried to break up a fight in Brooklyn's Chinatown.

The NYPD reported that William Smith, 45, was taken into custody for the death of Yong Zheng, 46, in Sunset Park Friday night and for the stabbings of three other men who are recovering from their injuries.

Two of the stabbing victims were hospitalized are in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries. The third victim was treated at the scene for a puncture wound.

Zheng was returning from dinner with friends when they saw two groups of men fighting outside an illegal gambling den.

Police say Zheng was stabbed four times after he tried to defuse the fight which began when several suspects attempted to rob a group of men inside a gambling den. When the men resisted, the fight spilled onto the sidewalk.

YONG ZHENG

Zheng was disturbed by the recent wave of bias attacks against the Asian community and believed he could be witnessing a hate crime when he intervened, said Xiu Lin, 34, a close family friend of Zheng.

Zheng's widow, told ABC News she still can't process the horrific nightmare.

"He heard a robbery - he didn't know what was going on. He saw a crime, he tried to stop it," she said.

Smith was arrested Sunday after police tracked his car, which was captured by a surveillance camera. Other arrests are expected, according to authorities.

Smith, who had done time for manslaughter and other crimes, according to the Daily News, faces charges of murder, robbery and assault. It wasn't clear if he had an attorney who could comment on the charges.

Zheng was a bus driver in Chinatown, the sole breadwinner for his family. He is survived by his wife and two children, a 14-year-old daughter and a 4-year-old boy. He had recently moved his family to Philadelphia because he believed they would be safer  from Covid-19,

His wife was notified of the incident and drove to New York with the hope that her husband would survive the attack. Her husband died before she could arrive.

The local Chinese community collected about $17,000 in cash and presented the sum to Jin Zheng Sunday.

"I want them all arrested, I want them to be executed," said Zheng's wife to the Daily News. "Every time I look at my son, I think about the fact that he has no father."