Sarasota man stabbed outside St. Petersburg diner

ST. PETERSBURG -- A Sarasota man was stabbed after an argument with a friend in the parking lot of a 24-hour diner this morning, police said.

James Wright, 38, was stabbed at St. Pete Diner, 1101 34th St. N, after a fight with Corrie Randall about 2:45 a.m., police said.

Wright "turned and walked away" when he noticed Corrie had a knife, police spokesman George Kajtsa said.

"Apparently, he did get stabbed in the back," he said. "He must have been stabbed while struggling on the ground."

Wright was taken to Tampa General Hospital for treatment of nonlife-threatening injuries.

Details of the arrest are unclear, but police said Randall, 35, also of Sarasota, was arrested sometime after the stabbing. He was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, police said.

- Casey Cora, Times staff writer

Comments

[Mark]

Some friend.

Wait - he was taken to TAMPA GENERAL - St. Anthony's, Bay Front, Ed White, St. Pete General are all closer! The bigger story would be why was someone with "LIFE THREATENING INJURIES" hauled across the bay to Tampa!?!

OOPS - I misspoke - perhaps they weren't Life threatening injuries, but still - for any injury - to be taken to Tampa from St. Pete...

[??]

The bigger question is... What is the St. Pete Police Department doing about the increase in violent crime we keep reading about in the paper?

[CJ]

Ed White is less than a mile away, so who (us taxpayers?)paid for this guy to get sent to Tampa General for a knife wound, I bet they used Bayflight to take him there.

This calls for a little investigation of Bayflite procedures.

[WK]

To all of you questioning why this patient was taken to Tampa General,...Understand there are major changes taking place at our Bay area hospitals. Many patients are being "diverted" to other facilities. This is direct result of hospital changes, not from decisions made by emergency medical transport personnel. I am quoting from a very, very reliable source.

[Robby]

I am a firefighter/Paramedic, and find it very funny how many people jumps to conclusions without knowing the whole story. The stry said he "had NON life threatening injuries." Maybe he requested transport to TGH. If the knife only slightly punctured his back (cut), he is more than stable to go to TGH. He is paying the bill, not all you critics. It never mentioned Bayflight in the story. Before you worry about everyone else, take a close look at the areas that directly affect you. A billing report is created by transporting a patient to the hospital so you cannot say since you are a taxpayer, you paid for the transport, cause you did not!

[David]

St petersburg fire department rarely uses bayflite to fly trauma patients becasuse bayfront is faster to get to by ground. Also the protocol to follow in pinellas county if there is a penetrating wound to the head, neck, chest, or the paramedic thinks that there is internal bleeding or internal injuries from the wound the patient is called a trauma alert and then taken to a trauma center. You wouldnt take a trauma patient to ED White, St. Anthony's or St. pete general unless it was a code. Bayfront could have been on bypass for trauma becasue they were to busy or the onscene medics could have chosen to take him to a different hospital. So find out the information before you criticize something.

[Isawit]

I saw the whole thing, they were fighting over a bag of smoked neck bones, a peanutbutter and crack sandwich and disagreed on the effects of global warming fading their cardboard shelters. one called the other an Obamma lover and the other called him a Hillary lover and then the knife was pulled and someone got cut.

[ricco]

PARADISE PARANOIA PARADISE PARANOIA
REALITY CHECK.....WHY DO YOU THINK FLORIDA HAS A CONCEALED WEAPONS PERMIT LAW?,ITS NOT BECAUSE OF THE LOW CRIME RATE THATS FOR SURE.....

[Just A Guess]

Just a guess, but I wonder if he was taken to Tampa General based on the story just recently posted that says Bayfront notified the state they are not accepting trauma patients until 7 am Thurs. TGH is probably a trauma center also, so he was taken there instead.