NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) -- A Queens father told his three young sons to “keep your seatbelt on” before he mowed down his wife with a Ford Explorer, climbed out of the overturned SUV and stabbed her outside of her home this week, prosecutors said.
The chilling details were revealed in court filings Wednesday as Stephen Giraldo, a 36-year-old MTA bus driver, was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on attempted murder and other charges in Tuesday morning’s shocking attack.
His defense attorney noted he has no prior arrests and asked he be placed on suicide watch.
The judge ordered Giraldo to be held without bail and return to court on Jan. 12.
Giraldo, of Jamaica, allegedly attacked his estranged wife, Sophia Giraldo, 41, at 5:20 a.m. as he was dropping his sons off at her Flushing home.
Surveillance video shows the moment he got into the driver’s seat of a white Ford Explorer at Parsons Boulevard and Sanford Avenue as his three sons, ages 11, 9 and 6, were seated inside.
As his wife came out and walked in front of the SUV, Giraldo told the boys to “keep your seatbelt on” and then hit the gas and accelerated the vehicle directly into her, according to a criminal complaint.
The SUV overturned in the collision, but Giraldo managed to crawl out of the passenger-side window, brandished a knife and stabbed her in the gut, authorities said.
Giraldo was still at the scene when police arrived and told officers, “I hit my wife, arrest me,” according to prosecutors. He was taken into custody, and a knife was later recovered nearby.
His wife was rushed in critical condition to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Queens with numerous injuries that included severe neurological damage, broken bones in her leg and a stab wound that punctured her liver. Prosecutors said she’s in a vegetative state and may not survive.
The boys were not injured in the crash, nor was their father, police said.
The couple’s eldest son reportedly recounted details of the horrific attack on his mom to officers.
The couple had split following a 13-year marriage that Sophia Giraldo had recently described as “toxic” in a Facebook post.
Court documents show she’d filed for divorce four months ago, the Daily News reported.
Giraldo has been suspended from the MTA without pay, according to sources.
Queens D.A. Melinda Katz said he faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted in the case.
“The brutality of the attack, and the fact that it was committed in full view of the victim’s three young children, stirs heartbreak and outrage in all of us,” she said. “My thoughts are with the children.”
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