A 25-year-old skateboarder is being applauded by Berkeley Police after intervening during a terrifying random stabbing on an AC Transit bus.

According to a press release sent by Berkeley Police, at around 9:50 p.m. on Monday night, 24-year-old Eric Palmer was on an AC Transit bus that was headed down San Pablo Avenue near Chaucer Street when, "for no apparent reason," he walked down the aisle, pulled out a knife, said "watch this," then allegedly started stabbing a nearby 21-year-old woman.

According to The Oakland Tribune, Palmer did not know the woman on whom he allegedly inflicted, police say, "serious but non-life-threatening injuries."

The main reason the injuries weren't worse than that, Berkeley police say, was because of an unnamed 25-year-old skateboarder on the bus. When the attack went down, police say, the skateboarder sprang up and hit Palmer with his skateboard "repeatedly and continuously."

"Based on the investigation and witness accounts," Berkeley police say, "the actions of the passenger...who intervened without hesitation in the attack, were potentially life-saving."

Even so, police say, Palmer was "so determined he broke away several times to keep attacking the victim," before fleeing the bus.

Bus passengers flagged down a Berkeley Police sergeant, who held Palmer at gunpoint, eventually cuffing and detaining him with the assistance of other officers.

Police are still investigating the stabbing, but even they don't know if there's much to find. As Berkeley police spokeswoman Officer Jennifer Coats told the Trib, "At this point in the investigation there is no motive, it just seems like a very random attack."

Palmer is presently being held at the Berkeley Jail without bail on charges of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon, and is scheduled to appear in court for his arraignment at 2 p.m. today.

The stabbing victim, reports the Oakland Tribune, has been released from the hospital and is now recovering at home.



[Oakland Tribune]