CLALLAM COUNTY, Wash. — A 69-year-old DoorDash driver from Port Angeles remains hospitalized in serious condition after Clallam County deputies say he was stabbed on a rural roadside Sunday night — a case now tied to a couple traveling with seven young children.
Authorities said 30-year-old Nicholas Well and 29-year-old Rosario Lopez Castro were charged Tuesday in Kitsap County with possession of a stolen vehicle and reckless endangerment, though investigators have not yet filed charges directly related to the stabbing itself.
According to the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, the chain of events began Sunday when deputies first encountered the family during a disturbance call in Sequim. Later that day, deputies arrested Well in Port Angeles for reckless driving after he was seen doing “donuts” in a car with his children inside. He was booked into jail and released a short time later.
Roughly 30 minutes before the attack, deputies responded to a welfare check on a family reported stranded along Highway 101. Moments later, investigators say, a DoorDash driver — described by Undersheriff Lorraine Shore as a good Samaritan — stopped to help.
“We had a good Samaritan who was a DoorDash driver who saw them and decided, ‘I will stop and see if I can help out the family,’” Shore said.
Detectives believe that brief encounter turned violent. The driver was stabbed in the neck and left on the side of the road while his blue Lexus RX300 was taken. He was rushed to a local hospital and later airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where officials say he remains in the intensive care unit.
“The victim was taken by an ambulance and he was going to be airlifted,” Shore said.
Just before 5 a.m. Monday, Kitsap County deputies located the Lexus stopped in the middle of a roadway. Inside, they found Well and Lopez Castro along with their seven children — all under the age of nine — and what investigators described as “visible blood” in the driver area. Deputies also discovered a bloody knife in Well’s pocket.
The couple was taken into custody, and the children were turned over to Child Protective Services.
Relatives of Lopez Castro say their primary concern is for the children’s safety.
“We just want to make sure that the kids are … have a confident place where they are just for their safety,” said Henry Peralta, the children’s step-grandfather. “We just want to make everybody know the kids are safe and they are being taken care of.”
Her mother, Rita Castro, added, “I’m sorry for everything … more important now is the children — the children are fine, everybody is okay.”
Authorities from both Clallam and Kitsap counties continue to coordinate the investigation. Detectives have not released a motive but say the attack appears to have been spontaneous and not connected to any previous dispute.
Formal assault or attempted-murder charges could come later this week as prosecutors review new evidence and await updates on the victim’s condition.
트위터 공유: 도어대시 운전자 칼 습격 사건 부모 기소