Cigarette Request Results in Stabbing
A fight over cigarettes put 29-year-old Adrian Mendoza in the hospital and 43-year-old Phi Dvong in the Merced County Jail. Dvong stabbed Mendoza on the 1300 block of West 2nd Street in Merced on July 13th and is being charged with aggravated assault and outstanding warrants.
The altercation began when Mendoza, a local transient known to the 2nd Street area, walked up to Dvong’s apartment window and asked for three cigarettes from Dvong. This agitated Dvong, and he told Mendoza to get away from his house and leave him alone. Mendoza subsequently left Dvong’s window and went to an apartment two doors down that he had stayed in earlier that day.
A short time later, Dvong knocked on the door of the apartment that Mendoza was occupying and threatened to stab him. Mendoza invited Dvong into the apartment, and Dvong subsequently stabbed Mendoza once in the back with a knife. Once officers from the Merced Police Department arrived, they arrested Dvong and had Mendoza sent to the Mercy Medical Center, where he was treated for a non-threatening stab wound. When officers questioned Dvong on his motives for stabbing Mendoza, he replied that he was tired of “these guys” messing with him.
Unfortunately for Dvong, his retaliation against Mendoza’s cigarette request will cost him in the justice system.
“[On] a normal aggravated assault the convicted person can be imprisoned in the state prison for two, three, or four years,” said Lt. Tom Trindad of the Merced Police Department,”…or by a fine not exceeding $10,000, or by both the fine and imprisonment.”
Read More:
KMPH: Man Stabbed After Argument Over Cigarette, Police Say
Merced Sun-Star: Dispute Over Cigarettes Leads to Stabbing
