A 17-year-old boy accidentally stabbed his own father to death on Friday night while defending his uncle from an attacker.
According to Sergeant Mike Blair of the Piece County Sheriff’s Office, the teenager was at his uncle’s home with his cousin when his father arrived unexpectedly after 10pm and began hitting his uncle over the head with a crowbar.
Witnessing the fight from a window while inside the home the teenager grabbed a knife, ran outside and stabbed the attacker several times, not realizing it was his estranged father because it was dark outside.
According to Officer Blair:
“It’s dark. There’s one porch light. No streetlights” and “The teen sees his uncle being beaten and he tries to defend him. Then it escalates. The kid is fighting for his life.”
When police arrived on the scene the teenager had received a head wound and his father suffered from multiple stab wounds inflicted by his son. Both the father and son were taken to the Harborview Medical Center where 47-year-old Ralph Paputsakis died after several hours.
At this time no arrests have been made, it will be up to prosecutors to determine what if any charges are brought against the teenager.
According to police:
“We’re going to let the prosecutor review this. At this point we don’t have probable cause. It appears that the boy was trying to protect his uncle.”
Wihle he added:
“Based on the circumstances … we were comfortable that this person is not a danger to rest of society. He was standing up for the safety of his uncle – it just so happened that it ended up being his father who was killed.”
It’s an unfortunately event, thankfully the boys father was estranged and they don’t appear to have been close.
[Img: Komo News ]
