Pink

ELKINS — The case of a Japanese restaurant employee accused of stabbing a co-worker will be headed to the grand jury.

The attorney defending Shi Span Pink, 48, who is charged with malicious assault and malicious wounding, waived the preliminary hearing on the charges in Randolph County Magistrate Court Monday morning. The case will now be presented to a Randolph County grand jury.

In magistrate court Monday morning, Pink’s attorney, Jacob Rosnick of Morgantown, asked that Pink’s bond be modified from $15,000 cash-only to $15,000 cash or surety.

Rosnick told Magistrate Ben Shepler that Pink lives in Randolph County and has been “crime-free for the seven years he has been in the United States.” Rosnick said Pink was “financially unable to post that amount as set.”

Assistant Randolph County Prosecuting Attorney Leckta Poling said the state would remain silent on the matter of bond modification.

Shepler said he would modify the bond to include property, “but that’s the only modification,” stressing that there is a “strict” no-contact-with-the-victim condition.

An online translator recounted all comments to Pink, who does not speak English, during Monday’s court appearance.

Pink allegedly cut the face of Shu Shuo Chen, 56, during an altercation at Sakura Japanese Restaurant in Elkins at about 1:30 p.m. on Aug. 15, police said.

According to the criminal complaint, prepared by Trooper H.J. Bonetti, of the Elkins Detachment of the West Virginia State Police, police obtained a recorded statement from a witness, who said an argument broke out between Pink and Xue Ying Xheng, another employee at the restaurant.

The witness said Pink struck Xue Xheng with two spatulas, and when Shu Shuo Chen tried to “intervene” between the two, Pink “grabbed a knife and struck the victim in the right facial region,” the complaint states. 

Bonetti said he observed a “laceration approximately six inches in length” on Chen’s face, and observed a “laceration on (Pink’s) left middle finger,” the complaint states. 

Bonetti and Senior Deputy T.J. Knotts collected the knife, Pink’s shirt and Chen’s apron as evidence, according to the complaint. 

Both Pink and Chen were taken to a Davis Medical Center for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

Several off-duty police officers were eating in the restaurant at the time of the incident and broke up the fight, State Police said. 

The West Virginia State Police, Randolph County Sheriff’s Office, Elkins City Police Department and Randolph County Emergency Squad all had representatives at the scene of the incident.