Changed Forever: The Nicole Bean exclusive interview | Crime

A young man from Henrietta is in prison for the next 20 years. A little more than a year ago he savagely attacked his friend with a knife trying to kill her. But now in an act of kindness even we find hard to believe she forgives him.

Nicole Bean embodies the expression -- forgive but don't forget.

She is changed forever.

In our exclusive interview, Nicole talks about the attack, the impact, her recovery and her forgiveness. A forgiveness that was tested when she came face to face with her attacker again. 
  
The biggest moment...
 
"The biggest moment was when he walked in and we made eye contact, I kind of hyperventilated," Nicole Bean said. She had just walked into the courtroom herself. Her attacker -- her old friend, Kevin Minemier -- was about to be sentenced to prison.

"It was really nerve wracking and I could feel him looking at me," she said.

The attack

Nicole and Kevin were inside the Calkins Road Wegmans in Henrietta. Kevin went off alone to the kitchen aisle, picked up a paring knife, came back to Nicole and without warning -- attacked her.

"I remember kicking him in the chest. I don't know. Something was happening and my eye had been stabbed at that point and I didn't know where I was, where I was going. My vision was completely blocked. All I saw was red. And I just ran. I had my hands out in front of me reaching for anyone or anything to get away," she said. 
"Do you remember feeling pain?" I asked.
"No. I remember the pressure distinctly of the knife going into my eye," Nicole said.

Nicole's life was saved when two strangers jumped in. Chris Patino and Mustafa Said tackled Kevin and ran Nicole away.

"It was an unnerving event," Reg Allen said. Allen is the chief of Henrietta Ambulance and was the first official to reach Nicole.

"When I turned around and looked to the left that's where Nicole was sitting. She was sitting next to the freezer," Allen said.

Nicole was rushed to Strong in an ambulance. Paramedic Josh Frankel was in the back trying to stop the bleeding.

"So while we're doing that we kept trying to reassure her that we're here to help you. We're here to take care of you," Frankel said.

Nicole was put into an emergency room packed with dozens of people.

"I remember one young man, he looked like an intern or resident maybe and he was just staring at me. He looked so like, what just happened to this girl?" Nicole said.

The impact

Nicole has gone through several surgeries on her eye and her hands. You wouldn't know it to look at her now, but she still has trouble seeing out of her left eye.

"It's kind of like broken glass and I essentially have a really really horrible astigmatism," she said.

Her doctor is working on a special contact that might improve her eye sight. 

Nicole is healing from her emotional wounds too. But she is getting better. 

The Recovery

She's in school at the Maryland Institute Colleges of Art and her art is therapy. 

Nicole is trying to free herself from the worst day of her life. But she talks about the attack as if it helped her.

"I feel like I'm better for it," she said. "I feel like it's a part of my story but it isn't my whole story. You know I'm 18 almost 19. It's just beginning."
"Where do you see yourself going?" I asked.
"I don't know," Nicole said laughing. "Who my age does? Come on!"

The forgiveness

Nicole still cares for the friend that hurt her.

"I still wish the best for him. I always have and always will and his family," she said.

And despite what Kevin Minemier did to her, Nicole says she forgives him.

"I wanted him to know exactly what he's put me through and that I do forgive him and I was thinking a lot about what that really means," she said. "Do I want to be friends with him again? Not really, to be honest. But do I still hope that something good can come out of it? Yes."

We did speak with Kevin's family for this story and told them what Nicole had to say about Kevin. Kevin's mother was happy to hear those words. His family is going through a very difficult time right now. Based on our conversations, we know Kevin's mother would like to meet Nicole and the feeling is mutual.