Indiana Pacers Forward Chris Copeland Stabbed At 1 OAK In NY

Ex-Knicks forward Chris Copeland was stabbed in the gut and two other women slashed by a knife-wielding man in a closing time melee Wednesday outside a Chelsea club, sources said.

The suspected stabber was arrested outside the popular 1OAK club on W. 17th St. after the 3:58 a.m. attack — as were a pair of NBA players busted for impeding NYPD investigators, the police sources indicated.

The dreadlocked Copeland, now in his second year with the Indiana Pacers, was taken to Bellevue Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

According to the sources, Copeland and Katrine Saltara, 28, began arguing on the street after leaving the Chelsea hot spot. Another patron, 22-year-old Shezoy Bleary, inserted himself into the dispute.

Bleary then pulled a knife, stabbed Copeland, 31, and slashed Saltara in her arm and leg, the sources said. The Pacers released a statement saying Copeland was also cut on his left elbow.

The attacker also accidentally slashed his friend Catherine Somani, 23, in her abdomen during the fracas, the sources said. The club, in a statement, said Copeland’s driver grabbed the suspect and held him until cops arrived.

When police arrived at the scene, they busted Bleary and recovered a knife, sources said. Charges against him were pending.

A cell phone video, obtained by TMZ, shows the aftermath of the incident, with Copeland sitting on the sidewalk outside of the club. At times he can be seen smiling, despite his wound, and is talking with cops, until a woman covers his mouth.

Atlanta Hawks players Pero Antic and Thabo Sefalosha, accused of disorderly conduct and other charges, said nothing hours later as they walked out of the 10th Precinct.

Copeland was in Manhattan because the Pacers are playing the Knicks at Madison Square Garden later Wednesday. The Hawks tip off against the Brooklyn Nets at the Barclays Center on Wednesday.

One clubgoer told the Daily News that Copeland “looked like he was happy” inside the club before things took a violent turn in the early morning hours.

Copeland and Saltara were rushed to Bellevue Hospital and were in stable condition, the sources said. Somani was taken to Lenox Hill Hospital.

“Pray for my brother Chris!” tweeted Indiana teammate Paul George several hours after the stabbing.

Sefolosha, 30, and Antic, 32, refused to move when police tried to set up a crime scene, the sources said. They were charged with obstructing governmental administration and disorderly conduct.

1OAK issued a statement saying the club was “fully cooperative with the NYPD” and that the incident occurred some distance from the nightspot.

A police source said that Somani is a friend of Bleary, and was with him when the stabbing started. “In the course of what he was doing, (he) slashed her in the abdomen,” the source said.

Copeland, a 6-foot-8 forward from Orange, N.J., played 56 games as a rookie with the Knicks during the 2012-2013 season. He averaged 8.7 points and 2.1 rebounds per game, and then signed a two-year, $6.1 million contract with Indiana.

Sefolosha and Antic had been in the city only a few hours before the incident, arriving after a Tuesday night victory over the Phoenix Suns in Atlanta.

NBA legend Larry Bird, now the Pacers' president of basketball operations, released the following statement on the team's website: “We are aware that Chris Copeland was injured early this morning in New York City. We are still gathering information and will update when we know more. Our thoughts are with Chris and those injured.”

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