A school chaperone was visiting New York City from western Pennsylvania with a group of students when a maniac with an extensive criminal history knifed her in the chest in Times Square — though she didn’t back down from protecting the kids — according to cops and her husband.
Amber Lohr, 36, and the students were shopping for souvenirs as they neared the corner of W. 43rd St. and Eighth Ave. just before 6:15 p.m. Saturday. Her teen daughter was among the group the day before Mother’s Day.
As Lohr and the group approached the Port Gourmet Deli, 61-year-old Cyril Destin sat on a walker outside the entrance, cops said.
He pulled his left hand out of the inner breast pocket of his jacket and abruptly stood up, surveillance video shows.
With a sharp object in his hand, he lunged toward Lohr, who immediately began stumbling backward, the footage shows. Even still, she heroically remained by the students and urged them to back away, her husband said.
Destin sat back down on the walker and appeared to take a drag on a cigarette, according to the footage.
“She is completely traumatized,” the victim’s husband, John Lohr, exclusively told the Daily News on Monday. “We never want to go back to NYC ever again.”
Even as she bled with a near-mortal wound, she refused to abandon the kids, according to the spouse.
“My wife not only had taken the stabbing but should also be considered a hero by remaining in front of the children coaching them to go backwards without turning around,” John Lohr said.
The victim’s daughter, a nursing student, immediately administered emergency care.
“She handled it like a champ,” John Lohr said of his daughter. “Her instincts just kicked in. She took control of the whole situation.”
Meanwhile, a bystander called for help and the students contacted another adult with their group, he said.
Medics rushed the wounded woman to Bellevue Hospital, where she was treated for a stab wound to her chest.
“My daughter called me,” the father recalled. “I was in Pennsylvania. She calls me and said, ‘Mommy’s been stabbed!’ ”
Lohr raced to the city and took his family home, where his wife is recovering.
“She wanted to get the hell out of that place,” the man said. “It changed our life and our child’s life forever.”
The couple has five children together.
Police quickly arrested Destin and charged him with assault and criminal possession of a weapon.
His most recent address is the the former Times Square Hotel, which now serves as affordable housing for low-income, formerly homeless adults and people with serious mental illness, among others, according to nonprofit social services organization Breaking Ground.
The massive building is the “largest supportive residence in the country,” with 652 apartments.
A woman working at the deli Monday said Destin regularly stopped in for cigarettes, never causing any trouble.
Destin has numerous prior arrests, including for criminal mischief and menacing, and is known to the Police Department as “emotionally disturbed,” sources said.
“I don’t know why he’s out on the streets,” said John Lohr. “This is New York City. Where the towers fell, where the Statue of Liberty is. It’s a big place for tourists. I don’t understand why this guy is running around.
“I hope the guy rots in hell for what he did,” he added. “I hope they bring attempted murder charges against him.”
