Dad Held In Knife Attack On Daughter She Fights Back With Ax Handle After Fracas Starts Over Music

After an argument over loud music, a Priest River, Idaho, man pulled a knife and slashed his daughter 11 times Sunday night, sheriff’s officers said.

Michelle Price, 20, was severely cut on her neck and a wrist and suffered more wounds on her hands, arms and stomach while trying to defend herself, Bonner County authorities said.

She escaped by clubbing her father over the head with an ax handle and running to a neighbor’s house.

Price was taken to a Spokane hospital. Her condition was not immediately known Monday.

Authorities arrested Lewis E. Price, 55, and charged him with two counts of aggravated battery. He is in the Bonner County jail on $200,000 bond.

“Apparently dad was drinking and became upset about something,” sheriff’s detective John Valdez said. “He confronted his daughter with a knife and started slashing her. She was cut pretty badly.”

Price’s wife, Luella, stepped in to try to stop the fight. He pushed her away and stabbed her in the back, authorities said.

Michelle Price finally grabbed the ax handle and hit her father several times, authorities said. She then ran to a neighbor’s home and pounded on the door for help.

“She looked like she had taken a shower in blood. It was all down the front of her. Her shirt was soaked,” said Eric Eldenburg, the neighbor who helped Price and called police.

“If we had not been home she likely would have died,” Eldenburg said, adding that the woman’s wrist was squirting blood. He had her lie down on the floor and put pressure on her wounds.

Eldenburg was so shaken by the incident he wrote the judge who was hearing the case Monday, asking him to keep Lewis Price in jail.

“It was obvious he was aiming for arteries and veins, trying to kill her,” Eldenburg wrote.

The fight started about 11:30 p.m. Sunday at the Prices’ home off Dufort Road. Michelle Price and her mother were on the porch listening to music. Lewis Price, who is separated from his wife but not legally divorced, was inside with three of his grandchildren.

According to police reports, all the adults were drinking beer when Lewis Price came outside to complain the music was too loud. He then went inside and grabbed a pocket knife. When he came back out he argued with his daughter then cut her on the hand.

The attack continued until Michelle Price clubbed her father. When officers arrived, Lewis Price was standing in the driveway covered with blood. He told police he had stabbed his daughter.

Lewis Price was treated for head wounds at Bonner General Hospital and arrested. His wife was also treated and released for the 5-inch cut on her back.

Authorities were unable to find the knife used in the attack. An officer found the bloody club in the bathtub of the home.

The children at the house were turned over to the care of a relative in Sandpoint.

, DataTimes