Source: Crowbar Assault Not a Random Attack

Jalaluddin Khojandi, the 25-year-old homeless man accused of , pleaded not guilty Monday to the crowbar assault, which a friend of Hargreaves said was no random act.

The friend, a fellow member of the New York Roots Music Association, which Hargreaves runs the website of, said he was at the in Bayport that Saturday night to see Hargreaves' band perform but was not present for the attack.

“It was so late at night, that even the people who own the place were gone already,” he said. However, he said he is privy to some details of what happened.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said Hargreaves was sitting in a truck in the parking lot of the tavern after the show with a woman he was dating. That's when Khojandi, who had been involved with the same woman in the past, confronted Hargreaves, who exited the truck, he said. Police said Khojandi, wielding a crowbar, attacked Hargreaves and caused "serious head injuries."

at in East Patchogue and is reportedly conscious and alert. “I went to see him yesterday," the friend said Tuesday. "He was doing pretty well, considering." Hargreaves has staples in his head and a huge bruise on his right arm and ribs, he said.

Khojandi, who was represented by a legal aid attorney at First District Court in Central Islip, is being held in lieu of $500,000 cash bail or $1.5 million bond. Suffolk County district attorney's office spokesman Robert Clifford said a grand jury will review the evidence.

A benefit concert for Hargreaves, who does not have health insurance, is in the works.