Viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to the People (People v Contes, 60 N.Y.2d 620), the defense of justification was disproven beyond a reasonable doubt, there being legally sufficient evidence to support a finding that defendant was the initial aggressor and that the victim was initially unarmed (Penal Law § 35.15 [b]). Verbal provocation would not have justified defendant's use of physical force (People v Baez, 118 A.D.2d 507). Nor was defendant's conduct either objectively or subjectively reasonable (see, People v Goetz, 68 N.Y.2d 96, 113-114). There was also legally sufficient proof of defendant's intention to cause physical injury, such being inferrable from the very nature of defendant's conduct in pushing the victim while stabbing him with a sharp-pointed tool (see, People v Taylor, 163 A.D.2d 902, lv denied 76 N.Y.2d 944).

Concur — Carro, J.P., Wallach, Asch and Kassal, JJ.