Knife-wielding Hinge dating app serial attacker threatened to ‘carve up’ NYC victims
An accused serial attacker who met his victims on the popular dating app Hinge was behind bars Tuesday after threatening to carve up a terrified girlfriend with a knife inside her Queens apartment.
Herman Brightman, 30, was held with bail following his arraignment in Queens Criminal Court Tuesday on a seven-count indictment, accused of menacing the 28-year-old woman during the chilling Aug. 7 attack following a quarrel at her home, authorities said.
The 5-foot 9, 220-pound suspect, who also goes by the name Nazir Griffiths, “climbed on top of the woman, poked her with the tip of the knife, placed his hands on her mouth and threatened to gut her,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement.
“He asked her which part of her body she wanted him to cut first,” said Katz. “Brightman told her to turn up the music that was playing and looked through a window to check for neighbors. He then told the woman that he was going to kill her. He taped the woman’s mouth shut, bound her wrists behind her back and demanded she sit in a corner of the room.”
Brightman spent the next six days inside the apartment before the victim convinced him to leave, authorities said. He initially faced only misdemeanor charges until the case was declared domestic violence, leading to new charges and the decision to call for his imprisonment, the DA’s office said.
Though Brightman claimed on his Linkedin page to be a nurse practitioner at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, a hospital spokesperson said they have never employed anyone by that name.
The defendant faces additional accusations off threatening two women in the Bronx and a third in New Jersey after they connected via the app, with law enforcement sources saying the FBI was considering bringing charges against him.
The Central Islip resident was also accused of grand larceny in Long Island for allegedly ripping off a ring and a Rolex watch from a man after agreeing to buy the items on a Manhasset street.
Herman Brightman, 30, was arraigned on a seven-count indictment, accused of terrorizing a 28-year-old woman in her Queens Village apartment after meeting her on the dating app Hinge. (Shutterstock)In the Queens case, Brightman allegedly busted the victim’s computer monitor during an argument inside her Queens Village apartment where he was staying with the woman after they began dating. The fight escalated, with the defendant destroying her cellphone with a knife before threatening to butcher the woman, sources said.
The victim was able to calm Brightman down and convince him to untie her, a source said. He broke down in tears at some point, the source added, and the victim was able to go to work.
Six days later, the source said, the victim told Brightman he had to leave the apartment because she had relatives coming to visit. Brightman complied, the source said, and the victim called him a short time later to end the relationship.
Brightman wasn’t done, the source said, and he asked another one of his victims, a 30-year-old Bronx woman, to call the Queens woman, apparently in an attempt to smooth things over.
But when the two women spoke they bonded over their shared experiences with Brightman and decided to report him, the source said.
On Sept. 8 they each filed a report with the NYPD, with the Queens woman leaving to stay with relatives in Pennsylvania over fears of Brightman’s wrath, the source said.
The Bronx woman was victimized on Sept. 6, according to court papers, in a confrontation in front of a Mott Haven building on Cypress Ave. in which he allegedly punched the woman in her arm then grabbed her in a chokehold, one arm around her neck the other covering her nose and mouth.
Two days later, Brightman attacked the same woman three blocks away, hurling an orange construction cone that struck her in the foot, court papers said. He then allegedly flung a two-liter bottle of soda at her but she sidestepped the missive.
Brightman was arrested on Sept. 14 and charged with criminal obstruction of breathing, misdemeanor assault, harassment and weapons possession. Police tacked on a charge of obstructing governmental administration because he allegedly spit in an NYPD sergeant’s face as he was being placed in a holding cell.
Brightman was released without bail and immediately re-arrested for the Queens case. He was again released without bail because the charges, all misdemeanors, were not bail eligible, though he was ultimately indicted for second-degree kidnapping, a felony.
But while he was free, Brightman on Sept. 28 attacked another Bronx woman inside her apartment on Metropolitan Ave. in the Parkchester section of the Bronx, authorities said.
“I’m going to show you who I truly am,” he said to the 29-year-old victim, according to court papers. “You think I am playing with you?”
When the victim tried to leave he blocked the door then threw a glass vinegar bottle at her, court papers say. The woman retreated to her bedroom and locked the door Brightman allegedly kicked it in, repeatedly punched her in the head and choked her until she lost consciousness, authorities said.
“Look at me,” he allegedly said before the victim blacked out. “I have nothing to lose. My dad is dying. We don’t work together anymore.”
The woman regained consciousness but the beating continued, the papers said, with Brightman yanking her to the ground by her hair.
“Kneel down,” he allegedly commanded. “You ever been beat before? This is a night you will never forget. You are not going to make it out alive tonight.”
At that point, Brightman stripped down to his underwear, told the woman to get in the shower and vowed to come in after her, even as he said he was “sorry for hitting you,” the paper said.
But as he was showering, the woman was able to text a friend. When the friend showed up the victim ran away with her and called police, with Brightman calling her and texting her to try to win her back.
“Please have a heart,” one text read, according to court papers. “I don’t want to lose my license.”
Brightman was charged with strangulation, criminal obstruction of breathing, unlawful imprisonment, assault, weapons possession and criminal mischief for that incident. He is being held on $350,000 bond. His lawyer for the Bronx cases had no comment.
His cancer-stricken father, who asked for anonymity, said he was unaware of the multiple allegations against Brightman.
“That don’t sound like him,” the father said, fighting back tears and clutching his stomach. “He’s not like that. He’s a doctor. He works at the hospital. He’s helping me. I’ve got cancer now and he’s helping me.”
In New Jersey, Brightman has a pending case in West New York, where on successive days he threatened the same woman, according to court papers.
Brightman on July 20 went the victim’s home in Mount Vernon, held a box cutter to her hip, then forced her from the apartment and into his car. He punched the victim in the head and mouth, then chokeholded her before driving to a home in West New Jersey, the papers said.
He threatened to put her in a “body bag” if she caused a scene as he pulled her from the car. Later, however, the woman tried to run off, the papers said, with Brightman chasing her down and pulling her back inside.
When the woman was able to call 911 police showed up and found Brightman hiding in the shower and charged him with numerous offenses.
He denied wrongdoing and said he was preparing for a job interview.
Brightman at one point lived on Bruckner Blvd. in the Bronx, where a resident recalled Brightman had a short fuse and was evicted from the building in 2020.
“As far as being violent and what’s being said, I’m not too surprised,” the man said. “From what I Iearned he was a hot head.”
The grand larceny arrest against Brightman was made July 14, 2022, after he agreed to buy jewelry from a man, according to court papers.
They met on Northern Blvd. in Manhasset, where the victim handed over a bag holding a Cuban chain worth $10,500 and a Rolex worth $16,800, the papers said, but instead of paying the seller, Brightman hopped in his Chrysler and drove off. Brightman was arrested the following month.
