Man slain on Manhattan pier had been drinking with his killler: NYPD

The man stabbed dead at a West Side pier in a heavily-touristed part of Manhattan has been identified, police said Friday.

Hugo Morales, 35, was killed in a confrontation just before 6 a.m. Thursday in the park at Pier 84 by 12th Ave. and W. 44th St. — between the Circle Line terminal and the Intrepid Museum.

It is not yet clear what sparked the stabbing but it appears the stabber and the victim knew each other and had been drinking, police said. A police source said the stabbing was captured on video.

The stabber fled with five other men who were on the pier, police said.

Medics rushed Morales to Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital but he could not be saved.

Investigators tracked the fleeing suspect and his cohort via video surveillance cameras, zeroing in on them as they jumped the subway turnstile, according to footage released by police.

The prime suspect in the homicide is light-skinned, with a Caesar-style haircut. He was wearing a white shirt, light shorts and white sneakers, police said, and was carrying a cross-body bag and a black backpack.

Morales lived in West New York, N.J.

With Thomas Tracy