Vancouver man stabbed answering woman’s cries for help

A 44-year-old man was stabbed when he intervened in an incident along the Burnt Bridge Creek Trail early Monday.

Vancouver police officers were dispatched at 1:03 a.m. to a home in the 8200 block of Northeast 20th Street for a report of an assault with a weapon.

A man was walking on the trail, near his home, when he witnessed a man on top of a woman, who was yelling for help, Vancouver Police Department spokeswoman Kim Kapp said in an email.

The witness tackled the man who appeared to be attacking the woman, Kapp said. The men started fighting, and the area resident was stabbed in the stomach. The assailant, as well as the woman who had been yelling for help, ran off, Kapp said.

Neither were located after an extensive search, according to the police department.

Police described the male suspect as white and about 30 years old. He was wearing a dark-colored hoodie. The woman was also white, appeared to be in her late 20s and had long, dark hair.

The man who intervened was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Major Crimes Unit detectives are investigating the stabbing.