A Long Island lunatic is accused of chasing down a beloved homeless man and stabbing him to death in broad daylight, leaving his body on the side of the highway as he fled down the road.
Joseph Norton, 20, faces charges of second-degree murder for allegedly killing 32-year-old Timothy Stark on the service road of Exit 64 on the Long Island Expressway in Medford at around 3:30 p.m. on Monday, according to Suffolk Police.
Norton, of Manorville, was embroiled in an altercation with Stark when he jumped out of his vehicle and chased him down amid the rush hour traffic, police said.
Norton then allegedly plunged a 6-inch switchblade into Stark’s back before bolting to his vehicle and fleeing — leaving the victim bleeding out on the side of the road, prosecutors said, according to ABC 7.
Stark was rushed to NYU Langone Hospital in Patchogue, where he was pronounced dead.
Suffolk County patrol officers tracked Norton down about five miles away at an intersection in Yaphank shortly after he allegedly killed Stark.
Retired EMT Jeff Vinci told ABC 7 that he witnessed the moment Stark collapsed on the side of the road and rushed over to help him.
“His body was moving in a way that could tell he was not breathing anymore,” Vinci told the outlet. “I checked his pulse. He had no pulse.”
It remains unclear what prompted Norton to allegedly hunt down and kill Stark.
Norton was arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on Tuesday, where prosecutors alleged he chased Stark across three wide intersections before slamming his head into the pavement and driving the blade into his lung and heart in front of a handful of witnesses and two dashcam videos, ABC 7 reported.
Norton’s attorney, Peter H. Mayer IV, entered a denial to the murder charge — stressing to the court that the charges against his client “are not convictions” and he’s presumed innocent.
A judge ordered Norton to be held without bail following the hearing.
Norton is due back in court on Thursday, online jail records show.
Stark was a beloved fixture in the community, with residents saying he would normally be posted up in a chair on the service road.
Jake Sherack said he and his 7-year-old son would regularly stop to give him food and remembered him as a “kind person.”
“He was always good to us, one of my biggest prides was me and my son going to feed him,” Sherack told the outlet.
“I hope my son knows for the rest of his life that we helped him out. He was just always a kind person.”
Tanika Quashie, who works at the nearby Medford DMV just a block from where Stark was killed, was seen placing candles at a growing memorial on the spot where he used to sit.
“He was somebody, and I want the world to know that,” she told News 12 Long Island.
“I’m just at a loss for words that somebody so kind, didn’t bother anybody, somebody so innocent, and you do that to him? It’s just unforgivable.”
