Sunday, March 21, 2010

Brooklyn Teen Slashed About Face Speaks On Horrible Ordeal




NyDailyNews.com: Every time a teen looks in the mirror, she will see the V-shaped scar - a permanent reminder of the violence that erupted near her grandmother's Brooklyn home.

Shantayah Lewis, 17, sat in her room at Kings County Hospital Saturday, calmly reflecting on the Friday afternoon attack that left her with dozens of stitches in the left side of her face.

"My face is too beautiful to be fighting," Shantayah told the Daily News. "Fighting is not the key. Violence is not the way."

Shantayah was walking with her 15-year-old cousin, Shakeena Grant, on Franklin Ave. near Lincoln Place in Crown Heights about 3:30 p.m. They were being tailed by a girl who is dating the ex-boyfriend of Shakeena's sister, Shamaula.

"She kept following us," the injured teen said. "She wanted to fight."

After a brief scuffle, the 17-year-old girl who had been following the cousins vowed to return.

About 5 p.m. the girl came back with her boyfriend, the center of the beef. She then whipped out what witnesses said was a knife and started slashing.

"She swung and started stabbing my face," Shantayah said. "I didn't know what to do."

Shakeena, who was stabbed, was released from a hospital Saturday.

The two girls somehow escaped and ran to the Union St. home of Shantayah's grandmother, Cheryl Evans. The grandmother called 911 and the two girls were taken to Kings County Hospital.

Though the wounded teens believed the boyfriend was holding them down, cops said he actually was trying to break up the attack.

Police talked to the man, who said he was trying to help, and surveillance video backs up his claim, sources said.

Shantayah said the whole thing should never have happened.

"Basically, [Shakeena] fought for her sister," she said, referring to Shamaula, who used to date the attacker's boyfriend. "She should not have done that. We should not have been involved."

The young girl responsible for the attack was still at large last night and no arrests have been made.

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