Man Stabbed While Riding Bus Passenger In Critical Condition After Fight In Spokane Valley

Sat., Nov. 9, 1996

By Brian Coddington brianc@spokesman.com

An argument in the back of a bus turned violent Friday afternoon in the Spokane Valley, leaving one man in the hospital with a severe stab wound.

Dale Folsom, 38, was unconscious when medics pulled him from the bus at the intersection of Sprague Avenue and McDonald Road. He was taken to Sacred Heart Medical Center, where he underwent surgery and was listed in critical condition, a nursing supervisor said.

Sheriff’s deputies questioned a boy several blocks away from the intersection who matched the description of the assailant, said Sgt. Pete Bunch. They later arrested him on assault charges and booked him into Juvenile Detention. The boy’s name was not released.

Deputies also were searching for the knife.

Witnesses said Folsom and a boy in his late teens were sitting next to each other on the bench seat in the back of the bus. As the bus slowed to a stop at the traffic light at McDonald about 1:30 p.m., the two began arguing.

The boy pulled out a knife and threatened Folsom. The two then shoved each other, and the boy stabbed Folsom in the right side in front of a half-dozen passengers.

Folsom crumpled back into a seat and the assailant fled out the rear door and ran south on McDonald, witnesses said.

The bus driver said he recognized the assailant as someone who frequently rides the East Sprague bus route.

Minutes after the stabbing, deputies noticed a boy walking near Ninth Avenue and Blake Road that matched the witnesses’ descriptions. He was wearing a green sweat shirt and baggy black jeans, police said.

Witnesses were uncertain what sparked the argument.

“Only thing we heard them say really was, ‘Don’t pull a knife on me,”’ said Sarah Morley, who was riding the bus to Shopko with her mother and infant son.

A man who was sitting next to the two when the arguing started also was baffled.

“I don’t know what (Folsom) said, but the guy with the knife got mad,” said the witness, who did not give his name.

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