Twenty-seven-year-old Blaine Hodge is being hailed a hero after saving a woman from a machete-wielding man who was allegedly her ex-boyfriend.
The act of domestic violence taken to the extreme left the woman running into a Starbucks in Bakersfield, California screaming, “Help me! This guy’s going to kill me,” according to witness Joe Harris, a friend of Hodge.
Harris reported that a man then walked into the coffee shop “holding something in his hand,” that turned out to be a sharp machete.
At that moment, Hodge fearlessly stepped in, placing himself in between the woman and the knife.
“Everyone else was running away and he was the first person to run straight to the action,” Harris told KGET-TV. “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 was stabbed many times during the violent encounter and may lose function of his right hand. He needed almost 200 stitches to repair the wounds and may take six weeks to recover.
The woman was also stabbed during the attack, but Hodge’s act of selfless heroism saved her life.
The attacker has been identified as 31-year-old Robert Daniel Rivas, and he’s been charged with attempted murder as well as assault with a deadly weapon.
According to Hodge’s girlfriend, Tori Toney, her boyfriend’s bold move for a stranger was not out of character. Unsurprised by his actions, she said, “He would do it again. He could lose an arm and he would still do it again. And that’s just Blaine.”
A GoFundMe page set up for Blaine’s recovery has already exceeded its goal by more than triple, as people across the country have been inspired by his actions.
If you’d like to help Blaine financially, you may donate to his GoFundMe here.
See more from this hero’s story in the KGET-TV News interview below:
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