Courts
Suspect in knife attack outside West Salem Kwik Trip pleads not guilty
A truck driver pleaded not guilty Monday to a charge of attacking another driver with a knife in a West Salem Kwik Trip parking lot last month.
Paul Stokes will be scheduled for trial, for allegedly cutting the other driver on the neck and chest during an argument outside a Kwik Trip.
Detective Sergeant Nate Ganrude with the West Salem police described a security video of the incident in court.
“One individual, shorter with a beard, raised his arm, and slashed across at the other individual,” Ganrude said. He described the 45-year-old victim as having a cut along his neck, that continued across the body, “up to 8 inches across the chest.”
The 59-year-old Stokes is accused of reckless endangerment and substantial battery, for the incident in late October.
The victim called police, and Stokes was arrested the next day in Tennessee. Stokes has his next court hearing in January.