California Man Stops Woman In Starbucks From Being Attacked

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Man Jumps Between Woman And Her Machete-Toting Attacker

A California man is getting his just due after putting himself between an attacker swinging a machete and a woman screaming for help, according to authorities.

27-year-old Blaine Hodge was inside a Starbucks location in Bakersfield when a woman came running in (according to Joe Harris, who was with Hodge at the time).

“She was panicked,” Harris disclosed to KGET-TV. “She was saying, ‘Help me,’ and then at one point she said, ‘This guy’s going to kill me.'”

A man wielding a long knife then followed the woman into the coffee house, and that’s when Hodge decided he needed to step in. He was struck by the machete in both arms and hands, as well as a knee. As of now, he is hospitalized with more than 200 stitches and may lose the use of his right hand, friends said.

The woman is also hospitalized and is in critical condition at a local medical center. Police identified the assailant as Robert Rivas, and they say that he may be an ex-partner of the victim.

“Everyone else was running away,” Harris described. But his friend “was the first person to run straight to the action. He was like, ‘I’m going to stop this guy, regardless if I get stabbed or not. I can’t let this woman die.”’

Hodge’s girlfriend, Tori Toney, spoke on his heroic actions and wasn’t at all surprised by his good deed.

“I believe it because it’s him,” she said to the station. “I believe that he took a machete to the hands for someone else, that’s not surprising. That’s just Blaine.” And he’d do it again, she explained. “He could lose an arm and he would still do it again.”

A GoFundMe page has been established to help with Hodge’s medical bills, and can be found here.

Rivas pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to charges of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and resisting arrest.