Neighbors drink for health of stabbing victim

At 6:30 in the morning on Nov. 23, Francis Piacentini was walking his English Labrador, Maximus, up 4th Street in Northern Liberties when the dog stopped at a wide-open front door and refused to budge.

"I heard a moan coming from inside the house," Piacentini said yesterday. "A woman said, 'Help me. Help me.' "

Piacentini tied up his dog, cautiously walked inside and found Katrina Mansfield in the kitchen, "lying on the floor in a pool of blood," he said.

He covered her with a blanket and called 9-1-1. "She kept telling me who did it," Piacentini said. "She had been stabbed and beaten. The cops and paramedics responded very quickly."

Police arrested Derrick Cook, 15, who awaits trial as an adult on charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault, attempted rape and eight other criminal counts.

Mansfield, 45, a graphic artist, has had several surgeries since the attack, and is still in rehabilitation.

Tomorrow, Standard Tap, on 2nd Street near Poplar, will donate 20 percent of its New Year's Day sales between 4 p.m. and 2 a.m. to help pay Mansfield's medical bills.

"She has an irrepressible positive energy and a strong sense of community," said Standard Tap co-owner William Reed, explaining why so many of Mansfield's neighbors will be there.

Matt Ruben, president of the Northern Liberties Neighborhood Association, said, "There is a sense of betrayal and sadness because she is a person with a big heart who was trying to help this neighborhood kid [the suspect] by giving him odd jobs to do."

Rick Angeli, an old friend, said that Mansfield hasn't lost her sense of humor - a healthy sign.

When she learned about the Standard Tap fundraiser, she told Angeli, "I feel guilty about going into Standard Tap and always ordering seltzer water. When I recover, I guess I'm going to have to start drinking beer." *