A gay black man who teaches at a local high school is recovering from three knife injuries he sustained after being stabbed at a Mission taqueria earlier this month.

The May 13 incident took place about 7:18 p.m. and resulted in serious injuries to John "Jay" Frazier, who had to be hospitalized.

Sergeant Steve Mannina, of the San Francisco Police Department's public affairs office, told the Bay Area Reporter on May 29 that police officers arrested Lyced Yvette Segovia, 24, a Latina from San Francisco, on one count of assault with a deadly weapon at Taqueria Cancun at 3211 Mission Street.

According to district attorney spokeswoman Bilen Mesfin, Harris agreed with the SFPD's charge against Segovia and included two additional counts: use of a deadly weapon and personal infliction of great bodily injury, to the charge.

Segovia was arraigned and pleaded not guilty on May 16. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 20.

"She's a very nice person, Ms. Segovia," said attorney Jose Umali, who is representing Segovia. "The charges against her are unfortunate. She pleaded not guilty and at least for now, intends to fight against the charges."

Umali didn't want to comment further on Segovia's case because he took her case late last week and was still learning about the "accusations against her."

He did say that Segovia's not guilty plea "was the right thing to do."

A sheriff's spokeswoman said that Segovia is currently not in custody.

According to Frazier, 34, an English teacher at the Urban School of San Francisco, a private high school located in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, he and his partner and best friend were eating at the taqueria on Mission Street after spending the afternoon at El Rio, a popular bar and club. Frazier did not want his partner's or his best friend's names to be used.

Frazier told the B.A.R. that while they were eating they heard Segovia begin to yell racial slurs at two other people. He turned around to find out what was happening.

"She became really irate and combative," said Frazier. "I was surprised to hear such hateful language in this restaurant."

He told the B.A.R. that Segovia then noticed Frazier's group and began to verbally and physically assault them.

Mannina said that according to the police report, Segovia allegedly "did make anti-gay slurs and also racial slurs" during the incident.

"I stood up to try and put a chair in between us and intervene in some way," said Frazier. "Neither one of us hit her or responded with any force � we were just trying to protect ourselves."

Frazier was unaware that Segovia allegedly had a knife in her hand.

"I felt this hit in my back and it took me a second to realize I was stabbed," said Frazier. "At first I though she punched me in my back and I realized when I reached back there that my jacket was cut and there was all this blood."

Frazier told the B.A.R. that he was taken to San Francisco General Hospital.

It wasn't until later that he realized he had been cut in three different places, his shoulder, arm, and his back, which sustained the most serious injury.

"It's a very serious stab wound," said Frazier. "Several doctors said that it could have paralyzed or killed me."

Frazier told the B.A.R. that he was surprised that none of the restaurant's managers or workers intervened earlier to kick Segovia out of the eatery or have her removed to "ensure that everyone in the restaurant was safe."

Two employees, a cook and a cashier, who were working on May 13 were unavailable for comment Tuesday.

Taqueria Cancun owner Gerardo Rico told the B.A.R. that Segovia was a regular customer and that "they were eating."

When pressed about the May 13 incident he said, "I didn't see it. I don't know what happened." When the B.A.R. asked Rico if his employees were trained to handle violent incidents in the restaurant he said yes and that his employees called the police.

The morning cashier, Javier Rodriguez, told the B.A.R. that he wasn't trained to handle violent incidents in the restaurant.

Rico told the B.A.R. that an insurance company was investigating the taqueria on June 6 due to the incident.

Since the attack, Frazier told the B.A.R. that he has been recovering at his boyfriend's home and is unable to move into the house he recently bought in Oakland. Frazier hasn't returned to work since the incident and doesn't expect to return to teaching for another two weeks.

He has been slowly recovering and is now able to walk, but with some difficulty due to nerve damage from the stabbing.

"We are lucky that we all survived the attack," said Frazier. "I'm very lucky that I'm not paralyzed."

Frazier, a writer, has been active in the San Francisco queer literary scene since he moved to the city two and a half years ago after living in Brazil. He's active in GuyWriters, a collective of gay male writers, as well as HIV/AIDS work and activism.

"Jay is an upstanding member of the community, a very valuable member of the community," said Anthony Williams, a member of GuyWriters. "This sort of vicious hate crime weakens the community because our community members cannot participate. They are having to recover from the attack."

If convicted Segovia could face up to the maximum penalty of seven years in state prison, according to Mesfin.