Police: Couple stabbed after stopping to help teen in Orem


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OREM — Police say two would-be good Samaritans are fortunate to be alive after they were stabbed by a teenager they had stopped to help on State Street.

The bizarre incident began around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday on State Street near 300 North where a 20-year-old Provo man and 19-year-old woman saw a teen who appeared to be "staggering" and "incoherent," said Orem Police Lt. Craig Martinez.

The boyfriend and girlfriend decided the man probably needed help, Martinez said.

"They actually did a U-turn and turned around to try to help this young man to see if he needed anything, because it was obvious to them that something was wrong," he said.

The 17-year-old boy they approached, however, seemed agitated — likely because he was high on drugs at the time, Martinez said. The teen allegedly began yelling at the couple, at one point saying he had drugs and needed a ride, according to the lieutenant.

Martinez said the teen tried open the driver's side door, which was locked, then pulled out a knife and twice stabbed the man.

"The injuries were so significant that the man … started to go gray, meaning not really know(ing) what's going on," he said. "He was kind of losing control of … being able to do anything. He tried to drive away, but he said he couldn't. He couldn't make his feet, his hands or anything work."

The woman realized her boyfriend's injuries were bad and reached over from the passenger seat to steer the car away from the teen, Martinez said. But the car didn't get very far.

At some point, the man, still dazed from his injuries, got out of the car and laid down on the ground. When the teen approached him again, the woman exited the car and tried to push the boy away, Martinez said. The teen reacted by stabbing the woman twice, the lieutenant said.

Moments later, a 23-year-old Provo woman noticed something was going on as she approached in her car. She was able to briefly "nudge" the teen out of the way with her car and put the vehicle between him and the stabbing victims, according to Martinez.

At that point, "the suspect is making threats about killing the (woman who was stabbed) and then killing her boyfriend," he said.

The male stabbing victim went after the teen and was able to gain control of the knife, but not before being stabbed again multiple times, Martinez said. He was treated for six stab wounds in total, with at least one injury to his chest.

The man was "bleeding all over the place," Martinez said.

The man still had the presence of mind to put down the knife and kneel on the ground with his hands on his head as police arrived so officers wouldn't think he was the perpetrator, according to Martinez. The woman made the same gesture, which helped the officers "figure out who the suspect was very, very quickly," he said.

Police subdued the teen, though it required four or five officers. Both stabbing victims were taken by ambulance to a hospital. The man was in critical condition.

The woman, from Payson, has since been released. Her boyfriend was still hospitalized Friday but is expected to make a full recovery.

Martinez said police were we were "pretty concerned about the man" and his condition immediately following the stabbing.

"It could have ended very badly. I mean, this was a very bad situation to begin with," he said. "Fortunately, everybody is going to be OK."

Toxicology results are still pending, but investigators believe the teen was high on some type of drug. The 17-year-old lives in Provo but had recently moved there from California, Martinez said. Police believe his weapon was a 3-inch folding knife.

The teen was booked into a juvenile detention facility. It wasn't known Friday what charges police were planning to recommend to prosecutors.

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Ben Lockhart

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