A Charleston woman is charged with stabbing another woman in the temple with a pair of 6-inch scissors at the downtown Transit Mall Tuesday morning, police said. Nicole Lynn Dowd, 42, of Charleston was arrested on charges of malicious wounding. She was apprehended while walking along Brawley Walkway toward Capitol Street shortly after the altercation, Charleston Police Lt. Duke Jordan said.
Dowd and another black woman got into an altercation on Laidley Street about 10 a.m., Jordan said. One of the women had exited a bus right before the fight started, he said.Jordan said Dowd pulled out the scissors and stabbed the other woman in the right temple.
The victim was coherent when officers arrived at the scene and walked toward Jordan’s cruiser bleeding profusely, he said. Jordan applied pressure to the wound until an ambulance arrived. She was taken to Charleston Area Medical Center’s General Hospital.
“She’s lucky to be alive,” Jordan said. “She’s blessed.”
Officers recovered the weapon at the scene. The women knew each other and had a history of problems, he said. Sgt. Bobby Eggleton, assistant chief of detectives for the city police department, believes the fight started over a man.
“I was told the man just came into some money,” Eggleton said.
Dowd did not resist arrest and admitted to the stabbing, Jordan said. The victim was coherent enough to call 911 and report the incident, a dispatcher with the Kanawha County Metro 911 Center said. Jordan said the victim was conscious when she was taken to the hospital.
However, he was unsure of her condition as of 11:30 a.m. and would not provide her name. Other people were in the area when the altercation occurred, Jordan said, but few have stepped forward to give statements. Anyone with information should contact the Charleston Police Department Criminal Investigation Unit at 304-348-6480. About seven or eight police officers responded to the call.
“You never know what’s going to happen when you get a call like this,” Jordan said. “You could have multiple suspects or something.”
Dowd is being held at South Central Regional Jail on $10,000 bond.
