The man who was stabbed over 20 times during a fight with his friend on a Hudson Valley street, then managed to walk seven blocks for help after he lay bleeding for an hour, could have died if he tried to walk any further, he says doctors told him.
Two weeks ago, 21-year-old Thomas Metcalf was hanging out with his friend, 20-year-old Jonathan Rizzo, on Idlewild Avenue in the village of Cornwall-on-Hudson when the two got into a petty argument about Rizzo's ex-girlfriend. Rizzo punched Metcalf.
"When he hit me, I guess I had blanked out," he said. "He knocked me out. And then proceeded to do what he did. But when I had woken up, I didn't even know. I was just really cold."
Police said Rizzo repeatedly stabbed his friend in the head and torso 23 times.
Metcalf got up off the ground, freezing, and walked seven blocks to a friend's house, still unaware he had been stabbed. But when the friend's mother opened the door, she knew she had to call 911.
The brutal attack left Metcalf with a fractured skull, a broken middle finger and 23 stab wounds.
State Police Maj. Joseph Tripodo previously said of Metcalf, "How the victim didn't die is a miracle."
Metcalf agreed.
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"To know that I was bleeding out for an hour laying down, then woke up, walked seven blocks... they said if I tried to walk any further I probably would have died," he said.
It's still a mystery to Metcalf why Rizzo lost control. He said they were barely arguing.
Rizzo has been charged with attempted murder, but Metcalf said he hopes he gets help. And he says he wants to turn his own life around, too, by getting his GED and going to college.
"I just take it as a second chance. I take it as, live life as it is," he said. "Move forward from it and see what else I can do instead of just being a kid now."
Rizzo was being held in jail and attorney information wasn't clear.
