Stabbing sends man to hospital
By Shannon Murphy
Times Herald
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CLAY TWP. -- A 19-year-old Marine City man is expected to be arrested and arraigned today for stabbing another man during the annual Jobbie Nooner party Saturday.
The man, whose name police are not releasing pending his arraignment, slashed Edward Champine, 24, of Algonac across the chest during a fight, St. Clair County Sheriff Detective Terry Baker said.
The man is expected to be charged with felonious assault, a four-year felony, Baker said.
The Jobbie Nooner party -- which is on and around Gull Island on Anchor Bay -- was June 25, but police said many people stay overnight on their boats or come back to party the next day.
Baker gave this account of the stabbing: At about 7 p.m. Saturday, Champine tried to break up a fight between people he did not know. The Marine City man pulled out a knife and slashed it across Champine's chest, leaving a gash from the top of his left breastbone to the bottom right of his stomach.
Champine ran back to his boat, where friends flagged down sheriff department marine-division deputies patrolling the area.
"The officers thought he was opened up like Time magazine," Baker said. "There was blood everywhere."
Champine was transported via the patrol boat to Harsens Island, then taken across the Algonac Ferry. From there, an ambulance took him to St. John River District Hospital in East China Township. He received 100 stitches and was released later that night.
Lt. Bill Krul, who heads the marine division, said the stabbing was the worst incident that happened on the island during this year's event. He said there were about 14 drunken-driving arrests, including drunken driving of watercrafts, and several tickets written for overloading boats and reckless driving.
Krul said policing the event is always a problem because of the increased number of people in the area and the nature of the event. He said about 1,000 boats were at the event. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers owns the island.
"It's a drain on manpower and a drain on the budgets of the agencies involved," he said. "There are no limitations (on the island), and it makes it so difficult for policing because there's nothing to fall back on."
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