An Uncharacteristically Sad and Disturbing Post

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This past weekend, Eric's best fried was stabbed. Yes, you read right. He was stabbed in a nice restaurant called Magnolia's Steakhouse in Norfolk, Virginia. He is currently in the hospital in Norfolk and is okay, for the most part...but the situation was disturbingly close to being very much not okay.

The scene played out like this: Eric's best bud and a bunch of other guys were in Norfolk (where both Eric and his friend are from) for a bachelor's party. After dinner, the party goers were drinking and carousing in the pool room of the restaurant, when one of the other bar patrons starts being obnoxious and waving his pool cue around. Not being ones to let that sort of thing slide, the party goers proceed to start running their mouths to crazy, pool-cue-waving guy. The next thing they know, pool cue guy has punched Eric's friend in the face, thrown him up against the wall, and stabbed him twice in the abdomen. There is still some confusion about the events that occur next, but a few things are sure:

1. Pool cue psycho ran from the bar, leaving his credit card behind.
2. Eric's friend and another person hailed a cab outside, which promptly rushed them to the hospital.
3. Eric's friend's friends beat up one of pool cue guy's friends in retribution.

Eric's friend made it to the hospital, and supposedly walked into the emergency room and mumbled something to the nurse along the lines of "I'm not going out like this." He was then rushed into a 3-hour surgery. The stab wounds were both big. Both were on his left side...one just below his heart and one on the side of his abdomen, perforating his stomach. The surgeons had to cut him open from his diaphragm to below his belly button in order to stop the bleeding and repair the internal damage. After the surgery, the doctors told his parents that it was a miracle that the knife didn't hit his heart or lungs, and that if Eric's friend had been 10 more minutes to the hospital, he wouldn't have made it.

Eric's friend is doing better, but he's still not in good shape. He's currently on a lot of morphine, can't eat or drink anything, and is obviously very shaken up (as are his friends and family). However, when he and Eric talked yesterday, his sense of humor was definitely still intact. He will make a full recovery, and we can all be thankful for that.

While the story so far is obviously scary and upsetting, I think the next part of the story is equally as bad, if not worse. Even with dozens of witnesses and the perpetrator's credit card, the Norfolk police did not arrest the man until today. When Eric's friend's family inquired about the investigation on Monday, they were told that the policeman in charge of investigating this crime was on vacation, and that he would get to it when he returns. The police essentially brushed them off, saying that these things happen all the time, and they'll get to it when they can. Unbelievable. Additionally, because Eric's friend's friends beat up the perpetrator's friend after he ran away (obviously not the right thing to do, but their friend has just been stabbed for goodness sake), the cops are trying to play this off as bar brawl and not a singular attempt on Eric's friend's life. Finally, there may be an issue with the knife used in the crime. Supposedly, a knife has to be a certain size for a crime to be labeled an attempted murder, and because the criminal took his weapon with him when he ran, no one is sure how this final piece will play out.

The perpetrator is currently charged with "felonious assault" and not attempted murder. This blows my mind. Ten more minutes and Eric's friend could have died...but this isn't attempted murder? I know that the most important thing right now is that Eric's friend is alive and healing, but the police need to figure their stuff out. This was not a drug-related incident in a crack house. A law-abiding citizen from a well-respected family could have died

....and people wonder why much of America has lost faith in its law enforcement system...

End note: if anyone has any advice as to how Eric's friend and his family should proceed with law enforcement and/or the legal system in this situation, please let me know. It will be greatly appreciated.