A 20-year-old Morgan Hill woman was arrested after an early
morning incident involving a knife, but Morgan Hill police are
still attempting to locate the victim, who left the scene before
police arrived.
Morgan Hill – A 20-year-old Morgan Hill woman was arrested after an early morning incident involving a knife, but Morgan Hill police are still attempting to locate the victim, who left the scene before police arrived.
The woman was booked into Santa Clara County Jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.
Morgan Hill police are not releasing the name of the woman arrested or her mother and stepfather, Swing said, because it is a domestic dispute. Also, Swing said, the woman may have been acting in self-defense, and the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office may decide not to file charges against the woman, even if the alleged victim is located.
But Morgan Hill Police are in violation of the law by not releasing the alleged assailant’s name, said Terry Franke, executive director of Californians Aware, a Sacramento-based nonprofit organization established to keep Californians aware and to hold government accountable.
“It’s a mistaken application of the law,” Franke said, adding that the law was never intended to preclude every crime that occurs inside a residence. “The law is intened to protect a victim who could be humiliated by what she, or sometimes he, has to report about a mortifying crime. Keeping it all in the family is not appropriate when it’s attempted murder.”
The incident began when the woman’s mother, 39, and stepfather, 45, were arguing early Sunday morning, and the argument turned physical as the man began pushing and hitting his wife, Morgan Hill Police Department Cmdr. David Swing said.
As the woman moved to intervene between the fighting couple, she was hit in the face by the man’s closed fist, Swing said, but it is not clear if the man intentionally hit his stepdaughter or if it was inadvertent as he swung at his wife.
The man then left the west Morgan Hill residence, and the stepdaughter also left, planning to drive to San Jose, Swing said. But she returned to the home after receiving a call from her mother that the man had returned to the residence.
When she got back, the woman and her stepfather got into an argument in the backyard of the residence, Swing said. As the man walked toward his stepdaughter, she grabbed a knife that was lying on a table in the backyard. Swing said the report did not indicate what type of knife the woman grabbed.
The woman slashed out with the knife, striking her stepfather in the chest. It was apparent from the blood at the scene that the man was cut by the knife, but it is unclear at this time how serious his wound was.
Swing said one of the people at the scene told officers he had an injury to the chest area that was about 6 inches long.
The man left the scene before officers arrived. Area hospitals were notified that he might seek treatment, requesting contact from the hospital if he did, but there were no reports of similar injuries.
The stepdaughter was arrested at the scene, and police are looking for the stepfather. A report has been filed seeking charges of domestic abuse for the initial incident with the man’s wife.
The woman and her mother refused medical treatment, Swing said.
