December stabbing in Radnor Township parking lot racially motivated, police say

A December stabbing in a Radnor parking lot may have been racially motivated, according to police, resulting in the assailant being charged with ethnic intimidation.

On Tuesday, Dec. 2 around 8:05 a.m., Radnor Township Police responded to the area of 150 North Radnor Chester Road in St. David’s for the report of a subject stabbing another subject. Upon arrival, police said, they came upon a victim with a “large laceration on his bottom, left cheek” and a cut to the left eye, with his face covered in blood. Radnor Fire Company Ambulance responded to the scene to transport the victim to Paoli Hospital.

Police spoke to witnesses who said a man named “Nick” stabbed the victim. A coworker had driven to the area to park “in anticipation of the incoming storm,” police said. The coworker said that Nick, who was a passenger in the vehicle, exited the truck and approached the victim, said police. The two immediately started grappling, and the witness said he thought the two were “play fighting” until he saw blood on the victim’s face. Police said the witness reported he then saw that Nick had a knife.

Police said that, while the victim at one point did break free and attempt to run, the man chased him. A witness told police it was “unclear to him if the [alleged stabber] was going to attack others.” Another witness said coworkers came to the victim’s aid, calling 911, after the assailant had run away, said police.

Nicholas Bradley Tart, 33, of Schwenksville, was reached by phone via a coworker on scene, police said. Police asked him to pull over his truck and remain in place for arrest. Tart did so, according to police, stopping in the area of Darby-Paoli Road and Sawmill Road. There, police took Tart into custody. They found multiple knives in the truck, said police.

Police said they were able to obtain a verbal statement from the victim after treatment in the hospital. The man said he knew the stabber as “Nick” and that he was a coworker. The victim told police Tart said “This is my home,” and began to stab him. He said he was unsure why Tart confronted him and did not understand the statement.

While in a holding cell at the RTPD, Tart stated “There is a problem with the number 13,” and that “These people are threatening our home.” He also told police, according to an affidavit of probable cause, that, while he lived in North Carolina, he was a “part of the Aryan Brotherhood” but that he is “currently no longer a part of that.”

Tart is charged with counts of aggravated assault, attempts to cause serious bodily energy, ethnic intimidation, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, harassment, and disordering conduct engaging in a fight. He is held in Delaware County jail, unable to post $1 million monetary bond bail. Tart is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Jan. 15 before Magisterial District Judge Sloan Walker.