Kimball man stabbed at Lake Minatare on night of July 3

A Kimball man was stabbed at Lake Minatare shortly before 10 p.m. on the night of July 3.

Michael Kudebeh, 38, of Kimball sustained a knife wound to the chest, which was non-life threatening.

According to Kudebeh, a 17-year combat veteran of the United State Navy, a white Honda Prelude pulled up near him at Lake Minatare while his wife was at the store picking up some supplies for the holiday weekend, when two men got out of the vehicle.

Both occupants of the vehicle were male, one Hispanic passenger and one African American, who was in his mid-twenties. According to Kudebeh, the driver approached him, initially asking if he had any gasoline.

After gesturing to the men that he had no gasoline, the driver then asked if he had any cash, to which Kudebeh replied that he carried only cards.

The man then lunged at Kudebeh with a 5 inch buck knife with a handle of similar length made of what appeared to be some type of animal bone.

The Kimball native was stabbed in the chest, but countered the lunge quickly, bending his attacker’s wrist back and landing several blows to his ribs on the left side of his body.

The passenger then came towards Kudebeh as well, picking up the knife and pulling his partner back towards the vehicle, before fleeing the scene.

Kudebeh says he then called 911 to report the crime, and when officers from the Nebraska State Patrol arrived, a new situation arose.

“Right from the get-go, within the first ten words they said to me, were like he and his partner had made up their mind on the way to the call, that they were labelling this a certain way, and there was no two ways around it,” said Kudebeh.

According to Lieutenant Lance Rogers of the Nebraska State Patrol, the department had no leads in the ongoing investigation as of Monday afternoon.

“The victim didn’t give us very much to go on,” said Rogers when asked about the progress with the investigation.

Kudebeh says that the officers who responded to the call failed to perform their duty as law enforcement officers, and that he

would be filing charges against both of them.

“I’m going to file charges against these guys,” said Kudebeh.

“To be treated this way (...) I’ve never been treated like that.”

Kudebeh was transported to Regional West Medical Center by private vehicle to have his wound treated following the incident.

According to the State Patrol, the investigation is currently ongoing.