LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The man who police say was stabbed in a road rage incident on Monday is telling his story.
Police arrested Akira Mays on Monday after she told police she stabbed a man for not letting her merge. Both of the drivers involved were picking their kids up from Steele Elementary on the first day of school.
Patrick, the man who was stabbed, is now recovering at home after being rushed into surgery on Monday. Channel 13 is leaving out his last name to protect his identity.
He wanted to talk with Channel 13 to encourage other drivers to stay calm on the roadways.
Patrick has his three stab wounds on his stomach and arm, along with a scar from his surgery.
“It’s constant, constant pain there,” he said.
Police say Mays was trying to merge when Patrick moved ahead and stopped her from merging. Patrick says Mays was trying to cut in front of a long line of parents trying to pick up their kids.
"I look at her like, back of the line, like everybody else,” Patrick said.
Later, police say both drivers got out of the car and got into a verbal argument. Patrick says he and Mays both told their children to stay out of the car.
"All of a sudden, I feel this sharp pain come out of my side,” Patrick said.
Police say it was Mays who stabbed Patrick, but Patrick believes it was her son who stabbed him and that Mays took the fall.
“She wasn't the one that stabbed me. I could see her. I mean, I could see her whole body right here in front of me,” Patrick said. “It was the kid that must have gotten the car because he's freaking out, because he's scared. Because his mom in this big old white dude are arguing in the middle of the road."
Police say Mays and her son took off while Patrick received medical care.
Mays was later convinced by a family member to call the school and talk to a police officer. She was charged with battery with a deadly weapon.
This incident comes a little more than a month after police say a man and his six-year-old daughter were shot in a road rage incident in North Las Vegas.
Nevada State Police say since 2017, they’ve logged 9,456 road rage calls in Nevada.
Road rage incidents across the country are on the rise. According to the Gun Violence Archive, rage injuries and deaths have doubled from 2018 to 2022.
Stephen Benning is an associate professor of psychology at UNLV. He says since the pandemic, some people have become more selfish on the roads.
"People have in some instances become much more individualistic and much less willing to give people space and grace. So it becomes literally my way or another highway,” Benning added.
Benning says instead of being reactive, take a moment to take two to three deep breaths and realize it’s not worth it.
"Many of these instances where we might feel threatened by another car will pass within seconds, almost by definition,” Benning said. “And if we can take those seconds to calm ourselves down and recognize that the danger that will accumulate if we act on our anger is much higher than the sense of justification we might get and the benefits of any kind of self-righteousness that comes out of it.”
It's a sentiment echoed by Patrick.
"Even if the other cars in the wrong, if you believe on your whole heart that they're in the wrong, just let it go.”
