SEQUIM, Wash. — The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) says two people were arrested in connection with the stabbing of a DoorDash driver in Sequim on Sunday night.
60-year-old Melvin Swagerty was driving on Highway 101 in Port Angeles when he saw a family with two adults and their seven children walking on the side of the road, CCSO said in a release.
Authorities say Swagerty offered to give the family a ride and they got in his 1999 Lexus SUV and headed east on 101.
Around 8:10 p.m., deputies with the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office received a report of an assault on Carlsborg Road in Sequim.
They found Swagerty at the scene, who had been stabbed in the neck and was unable to speak.
He was was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center.
The two adults, identified as 30-year-old Nicholas Well and 29-year-old Rosario Lopez, allegedly stabbed Swaggerty and pushed him out of the car before driving off with the children, according to the sheriff’s office.
Just before 5 a.m., deputies with the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office found the Lexus in the middle of a county road with the lights off.
Well was in the front seat and Lopez was in the passenger seat with the children in the back.
Deputies could see a significant amount of blood inside the driver’s seat area and they recovered a bloody knife from Well’s pocket, according to the Clallam sheriff.
Someone had called in a welfare check for the parents and children about 40 minutes before the stabbing. The nine of them were near a red Dodge Durango on Highway 101 near Deer Park, CCSO said.
The two were arrested and their children were taken to Child Protective Services.
The circumstances surrounding the assault are still under investigation.
Well and Lopez are facing charges of possession of a stolen motor vehicle and reckless endangerment - domestic violence.
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