Man Stabbed Twice After Giving Stranger Ride in Act of Kindness: ‘My Life Was in Danger’
“He said his car broke down there and he needed a ride back to Target, and me being a nice guy, I agreed to give him a ride,” Doctore Paton said of the incident
KMBC 9
A Missouri man is recovering after he was stabbed while trying to do a good deed.
Doctore Paton told Fox 4 News that he had been working on his truck at his Independence home on Sept. 29 when a man — later identified by police as 28-year-old Tyler Rizer — approached him asking for a ride.
“He said his car broke down there and he needed a ride back to Target, and me being a nice guy, I agreed to give him a ride,” Paton told the outlet.
However, he said once the pair got in his car, Rizer started acting weird. He tried to change the destination of where they were going. Paton said that when he tried to pull over, things turned dangerous.
Related: Remains of Missing Calif. Woman Found, Former Boyfriend Faces Murder Charges
According to a police affidavit obtained by KMBC-TV, Rizer allegedly took control of the car and began to threaten Paton. He had also allegedly removed a knife from the center console while doing so, according to the Kansas City Star.
Paton’s wife, Heather, stated to KMBC-TV that Rizer told her husband, “You're going to keep driving or I'm going to stab you." Paton told Fox 4 News that he did the opposite of what Rizer wanted.
“I went to the shoulder, and I got the car slow enough to where I could throw the car in park, and took the key out of the ignition,” he explained.
Paton said that when he tried to get out of the car, Rizer stabbed him in the chest with the knife twice. “I thought my life was in danger,” Paton told Fox 4 News. “I thought he was going to kill me.”
However, he told the outlet that after he was stabbed, he ran to a neighbor’s home and the neighbor chased Rizer away with a shovel.
“I thank him very much for saving my life,” Paton said of his neighbor. Paton managed to escape and was transported to the hospital with critical injuries, KMBC-TV reported.
The police affidavit obtained by the Kansas City Star said that after stabbing Paton, Rizer continued his crime spree by jumping a fence and entering another resident’s yard, where he threatened a mother and her two kids. He reportedly stole their car, which was then involved in a crash.
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
Witnesses reportedly told police that Rizer attempted to carjack someone after that crash, before he was eventually captured.
Rizer was charged with assault and armed criminal action, per Fox 4 News. The Kansas City Star also reported that Rizer has a history of felony convictions that include assault on a law enforcement officer, robbery, burglary and motor vehicle tampering.
For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!
Read the original article on People.
