A video clip from the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office reveals the minutes before a woman attacked & stabbed a deputy in the neck at a crash site.
Leigha Michelle Day, 21, is being jailed on a charge of attempted premeditated first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer.
According to authorities, the incident occurred after Day crashed her car down a slope on S. Indian River Drive, and Dep. Cody Colangelo, a uniformed patrolling deputy, raced to the scene to assist.
“What’s going on?” the deputy asked the woman as she strolled along the beach.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “Were you just in a crash?” asked Dep. Colangelo.
When Dep. Colangelo instructed her to hang on, the woman, clad in a green tank top and dark shorts, started walking in the opposite direction.
“I’m scared,” the woman stated as she sobbed. She had her hands behind her back as well.
She walked up the stairs after the deputy asked her to. The woman then spun around and went at the deputy, stabbed him in the neck, according to the sheriff’s office.
According to the sheriff’s office, Colangelo discharged his pistol, but Day fled the scene. Colangelo proceeded to hunt for her and called for assistance while putting pressure on his neck wound. Other deputies who arrived on the scene spotted and arrested her.
Dep. Colangelo underwent surgery just after the knife attack cut his carotid artery, but he has already returned home.
“We are so thankful for the doctors and nurses at Lawnwood Hospital for the great care they have provided Deputy Colangelo. He is home and resting comfortably,” Chief Deputy Brian Hester said. “We also want to thank our community for the outpouring of support.”
