Man picking up child from Coney Island school, slashed by boyfriend of mother

CONEY ISLAND – A man picking up his child from a Coney Island elementary school yesterday afternoon was slashed in the face by the child’s stepfather and boyfriend of her mother, after the latter slammed his car into the other’s vehicle that contained the girl, police said. Both men were charged with assault and endangering the welfare of a child, police officials said.

The two men were identified as Alphonso Gloster, 28, of Dorchester Road, who is said to have slashed Tyrin Torres, 29, of West 33rd Street with an “unknown object,” during the melee. Both men were injured – Gloster taken to Maimonides Medical Center with lacerations and bruises to the back, while Torres was taken to Coney Island Hospital for treatment for a laceration to the face. Neither injuries were considered life-threatening, police said.

Gloster was arrested nearby by police after the gory incident in which Torres’ blood was splattered over teachers’ vehicles and trailed into Public School 188 at 3114 Neptune Avenue. Neither the accompanying child, age not given, nor any other children in the school were injured in the melee, officials from the school said.

The incident began at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, when Torres, who picks up the fourth-grader each day from class, had just put the child in the back seat of the car when Gloster, identified as the mother’s boyfriend, used his vehicle to slam into the door of the Chevy Blazer. Torres then exited his Blazer and confronted the Gloster, accompanied by other unidentified individuals and according to one teacher, a melee ensued in which the victim was slashed with the unidentified weapon.

One teacher who witnessed the attack as children were being released from school, but refused to be identified because she was not authorized to speak, said the victim grabbed a hold of his daughter and blood sprayed on both of them and on the vehicles of two teacher’s cars.

“They then started fighting again, the man bleeding and retreating into the side door of the school where he was screaming for help,” a teacher said. “There were a few people who even saw the other guy with a gun in his waistband. It was very scary.”

School safety officers put the school on lock-down, keeping the children inside the school and attempting to isolate the combatants from students of the school. A level one mobilization was also called by police to freeze the crime scene on West 36th Street between Mermaid and Neptune Avenues.

Gloster fled towards Mermaid Avenue and was captured nearby by 60th Precinct officers. No weapons were recovered by police.