CD seller in Times Square charged with machete attack on competitor

A Times Square CD seller has been charged with brutally stabbing a competitor with a machete last month, severing leg muscles and nerves and chopping off part of a little finger.

Ove Williams, 36, got into a bloody fight with another CD seller during an argument in Times Square on May 30 – he hit the 32-year-old victim so hard that the man had to undergo several hours of surgery, prosecutors said on Monday.

The turf war over who can sell where broke out around 1 p.m. at the corner of West 45th Street and Broadway, witnesses previously told the Daily News.

Police arrested Williams on June 4, and he was arraigned in Manhattan Supreme Court on Monday on aggravated assault and other charges.

According to prosecutors for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the arteries, nerves and muscles in his left leg and shin were completely severed, and the muscles and tissue of his right leg were also cut.

The attack was captured on video, showing Williams reaching a machete over his head and swinging it at the victim lying on the ground, said Deputy District Attorney Keiran Hall at the suspect’s initial arraignment in criminal court.

Williams faces two assault cases in Brooklyn, and the attack came just two days after he was arrested on petty theft charges for stealing a victim’s wallet in Midtown Manhattan, Hall said. In one of the Brooklyn cases, he is accused of beating his 11-year-old son with a belt.

After his arrest, Williams told police, “I don’t know what to say about this situation. I’m not having a fight. I’m a father of three. I’m just minding my own business. At the end of the day, I’m a man. I’m not out there freaking out,” court documents say.

Police arrested three men who fled the scene after the attack, but prosecutors later declined to prosecute them.

An eyewitness also chose the wrong person in a series of photos and the victim did not cooperate with the authorities, his lawyer Kristin McAlpin of the New York County Defender Service said in court.

Williams remains held at Rikers Island with bail set at $100,000 cash or $250,000.