Nathan Scott Wanhala rescued a woman and her daughter from assault, Visalia, California, March 5, 2018. A woman, 25, and her daughter, 3, were aboard an interstate bus on a highway when a female passenger armed with a knife forced her way between them. The assailant put the daughter in a chokehold, pointed the knife at her throat, and threatened to kill her. The girl’s mother quickly pulled her daughter away from the assailant and urged her to run, though her daughter remained in the vicinity. The assailant then stabbed the woman twice in the torso. Wanhala, 30, an unemployed pizza shop manager, moved from a nearby seat and positioned himself between the mother and the assailant while shouting at the assailant to drop the knife. When the assailant refused, Wanhala grasped her right arm in both of his hands and attempted to wrest the knife from her hand. A struggle for control of the knife ensued, during which Wanhala was stabbed in the wrist and cut on his hands. The assailant then began to stab herself. The bus driver and two other passengers helped Wanhala subdue and disarm the assailant, and the woman and her daughter were aided to the front of the bus. The woman was taken to a hospital where she underwent treatment for her wounds; she recovered. Her daughter was treated for a forehead abrasion. The assailant was arrested and criminally charged. Wanhala was taken by ambulance to a hospital where he was treated for stab wounds to his right wrist and hand that required stiches, and a cut to his left hand. He recovered.
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