Newly released video footage shows when one of Sen. Rand Paul’s staff members was brutally stabbed by a knife-wielding assailant in Washington upon leaving a restaurant in March.
The surveillance camera footage was obtained by the Washington Post on Tuesday.
The shocking video shows how Phillip Todd, a 26-year-old economist working for Mr. Paul, was attacked in broad daylight shortly after leaving a restaurant with a friend.
A security camera pointing down at the pavement shows Mr. Todd and his friend walking by and then out of frame when the suspect charges in, dragging Mr. Todd to the ground and repeatedly stabbing him.
Immediately, Mr. Todd’s friend pushes the assailant off of him. The two men run away in a panic as the suspect gets up and strolls away in the opposite direction, as if nothing just happened, leaving his knife on the pavement.
Mr. Todd, stabbed in the head, abdomen, and lungs, suffered life-threatening injuries that required multiple surgeries. According to an uncle, the wound to the head fractured his skull, which had doctors worried about possible seizures.
Four days after the attack, Mr. Todd’s parents were happy to announce that their son was out of lethal danger. “Our son is in a stable condition, having undergone trauma surgery to address the wounds in his body … He is expected to make a full recovery due to his young age and good health,” they said in a press statement that included them thanking their son’s companion for his swift reaction.
“The intervention of our son’s friend helped prevent the wounds from being fatal.”
Attacker Apprehended
The assailant was apprehended a day after the attack by police and identified as 42-year-old Glynn Neal. He has been charged with assault with intent to kill, a felony.
According to court documents, Mr. Neal had just been released from federal prison some 24 hours before the attack, following a 12 years conviction for forcing two North Carolina women to engage in prostitution by threatening to kill them, according to a press release from the D.A.’s office (pdf).
“First day out of prison, tries to kill somebody,” Mr. Paul told Fox 29 after the attack, which occurred several weeks after Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) was attacked in an elevator by a homeless man inside her Washington apartment building.
“It makes me think we’re in the Third World. I wonder whether Washington, D.C., should be listed on dangerous places to travel like we do at the State Department for foreign countries,” Mr. Paul said. “Many of our major cities are really going to rot and ruin.”
In July, a judge announced that Mr. Neal would remain in jail and undergo further psychological evaluations before his next court appearance in September after he was deemed unfit to stand trial, according to Fox 29.
