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Deputy breaks up downtown knife attack

Three men, at least one of whom had a knife, attacked a man in downtown Pittsburgh.

A Channel 11 viewer took a photo of the suspect on the ground just after he was taken into custody on Smithfield Street. We followed up to find out what happened.

According to police paperwork, a man was on the bus with his girlfriend when Rashanti Taylor and two other men made insulting remarks to him and his girlfriend, then followed him down an alley.

One of the men swung a knife at the victim, cutting his hand.

Kevin Krause, chief deputy of the Allegheny County Sheriff's Office, told Channel 11 one of his deputies saw the three-against-one assault from two blocks away and gave chase.

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When the deputy ran toward them yelling for them to stop, two of the men took off and got away.

Not until the deputy drew his Taser did the last two men stop fighting and get on the ground.

Taylor was taken into custody and charged with stabbing the 35-year-old victim, who told police he was jumped.

"He was stabbed at least once in the hand. The medics did come to the scene," Krause said.

Taylor was on probation for an assault in 2016.

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A man reached out to Channel 11 after he saw our report, claiming it all sounded too familiar.  Taylor is the same man who stabbed him a year ago.

"He hopped in the car, tried to rob me, couldn't rob me, so he pulled out a dry wall cutter and started stabbing me in the chest four times," he said.

Police told us in May of 2016 when we ran the story that the victim went to buy Xanax pills from Taylor.

A jury found Taylor not guilty on both charges in this case in March.