An emotionally disturbed man is charged with the murder of former police officer Nicholas Nelson.

An emotionally disturbed Staten Island man was arrested Thursday and charged with stabbing a fired NYPD detective, police sources said.

Eric Wilson, 26, who has had seven previous arrests, allegedly got into an altercation with victim Nicholas Nelson Wednesday night that escalated into violence that ended in the death of a former police officer, police and sources said.

Sources said the fight started when Wilson allegedly tried to open Nelson’s car door while his son was inside.

Nelson, 37, then took his children back to their mother in Elizabeth Street in West Brighton, but Wilson followed him and stayed outside, yelling for the former police officer to come outside, the sources said.

Nelson did so and was stabbed in the neck.

Sources said that Wilson, who lives on the street, is known to police officers in the area and has received calls from the police regarding an emotionally disturbed individual.

Wilson left the scene after the collision but was later brought in for questioning and ultimately charged with murder, assault and possession of a weapon around 11 a.m. Thursday, sources said.

It’s unclear if the two men knew each other, but sources said they had no history of previous fights.

Nelson joined the NYPD in 2008 and rose to the rank of detective before his career was derailed by several disturbing incidents, department records show.

He got 20 days off and agreed to go to counseling in 2012 after he got into an argument with a woman he had a child with, records show.

On March 16, 2019, Nelson allegedly assaulted his girlfriend and was disciplined, eventually suspended and demoted, records show. It is unclear if the 2019 victim was the same woman involved in the 2012 altercation.

Court records show he was fired from the police force in May 2021 after being involved in a drunk driving accident in August 2018.