The man who was reportedly shivved on Rikers Island by a maniac who had allegedly just stabbed two girls at Grand Central station is a 6-foot-4, 240-pound hulk with a long history of run-ins with the law himself, The Post has learned.
Lawrence Browning, who has 26 prior arrests, was sleeping in his bed in the jail Thursday morning when Steven Hutcherson, 36, slashed him four times in the face, a law enforcement source said.
Browning was rushed to a hospital but returned to Rikers the following day, the source said.
Hutcherson, who is 5’11’’ and weighs 210 pounds, was brought to Bellevue Hospital Prison Ward after the sneak attack, officials said.
He’s awaiting arraignment for allegedly slashing Browning.
Hutcherson, who has a long record of his own, allegedly stabbed two teen tourists at Grand Central Terminal on Christmas morning.
Browning, 43, was most recently arrested Dec. 27 on a warrant from Monmouth County, N.J., police said. It wasn’t clear what the warrant was for, cops said.
He was also June 15 and charged with petit larceny, criminal contempt and criminal possession of a weapon after allegedly pointing a “big knife” at a family member and threatening kill him at a home in Staten Island, cops said.
Most of the charges against Browning over the years have been gun related.
He was arrested on an attempted murder charge on June 17, 2010, after he allegedly pointed a loaded firearm at someone inside the hallway of a Staten Island apartment building and discharged several rounds, cops said. Nobody was struck.
Then on Nov. 18, 2012, he was charged with assaulting two police officers in Staten Island, cops said.
Cops were responding to reports of a man with a knife when they encountered Browning, who allegedly kicked and punched them as they tried to arrest him. He became violent and irate, threatening them with the knife, cops said.
Browning has also been charged with petit larceny, reckless endangerment, criminal possession of marijuana, criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal contempt, cops said.