B'klyn race-riot killer stabbed in 'road rage'

A man convicted of killing a Jewish man during the infamous 1991 Crown Heights race riot was stabbed in the head with an ice pick this morning, in what may be a road-rage incident

Lemrick Nelson was found outside his car at 168th Street and Riverside Drive at around 1 a.m., with a stab wound in his head and a bloody ice pick on the ground nearby, police said.

Nelson was taken to Harlem Hospital in stable condition.

Nelson was convicted of federal civil rights crimes in the stabbing death of Yankel Rosenbaum. Nelson, who was 16 at the time of the incident, served 10 years in prison before his release in 2004.

The Brooklyn riot was sparked when a Hasidic motorcade struck and killed a black child, Gavin Cato, 7. Hours later, a mob of angry black residents, including Nelson, hunted down Rosenbaum, a visiting Australian who had nothing to do with the fatal accident.

Bloody rioting, and clashes with cops, continued for days. By the end, 152 cops and 38 residents were injured, six stores were looted, and 27 police cars damaged.

Nelson has been living incognito and apparently untroubled by his past: He told the Post earlier this year that, "Up until today, I left it alone. I don't even think about it."

Nelson told the Post in May that he is now a sober family man who lives with his girlfriend and young daughter.

"I don't drink anymore because of what happened in 1991," he said. Nelson's legal team had blamed his violent act on drunkenness.

"That was 19 years ago," he said. "I was a kid then. I made a mistake. Kids make mistakes. I'm a man now. I've never been in or out of trouble. I don't live that life."