Two charged in road rage that led to stabbing in New Albany
Aug. 3—NEW ALBANY — A father and son have been charged after police say a road rage incident led to the stabbing of two people in downtown New Albany last week.
William B. Embry, 29, is charged with two level 3 felonies for battery with bodily injury, a class A misdemeanor for possession of marijuana and a class C misdemeanor for possession of paraphernalia. He's being held in Floyd County jail on a $100,000 court cash bond, which means he would need to pay 10% of that to be released.
His father, 57-year-old John S. Embry, faces two class A misdemeanors for battery with bodily injury, although online court records did not show formal charges had been filed as of late Tuesday.
Court records show that at 2:17 p.m. July 29, police responded to a report of a stabbing at the intersection of West Market and West First streets, near the New Albany Police headquarters.
They found a man and a woman who had both been stabbed multiple times; the two were taken to University of Louisville Health. The suspects fled the scene before police arrived and were found a short time later at a downtown bakery where they worked.
John Embry told police his son has a diminished mental capacity and that he was his caretaker. Both were given a chance to discuss alone whether they would speak to police. They agreed and were taken to the station for questioning.
John Embry told police he had been driving on Interstate 64 East and had taken the exit to New Albany when he noticed a car at the bottom of the ramp attempting to turn left onto a one-way street.
John said he honked at the the car and that multiple occupants gave the middle finger. He continued to follow the car into downtown New Albany and said the car stopped and the parties got out of both vehicles.
John Embry said the man who was driving grabbed his neck and John said he grabbed the man. He said the female passenger then started hitting him in the head. He said another passenger got out and knocked him to the ground and he blacked out momentarily. When he came to he said two people in the other car were bleeding and said they had been stabbed.
Video surveillance from the Floyd County Sheriff's Department shows the two vehicles pull into downtown New Albany, and the driver who was stabbed appears to make a hand motion to the other car.
The video then shows John Embry approach the victims' car, kick the driver as he was sitting and begin to fight. William Embry is then seen getting involved in the altercation and the group moves out of camera view.
Police questioned William about what happened. He said he was on disability and had PTSD and other mental health issues but that he isn't now receiving treatment.
He said he wasn't sure how the incident started on the roadway but that when he saw his father being beaten, he engaged, stabbing the man three times in his side to get him to stop. The father and son then left and William Embry said he threw the knife out the window.
When officers spoke with the female passenger who had been stabbed, she said she thought it started when John Embry had gotten angry that the car she was in was taking too long at a stop sign.
She said as they traveled along the downtown streets, the suspects acted at every stop as if they were going to get out of the car. She said at one point they did, and approached the car and began punching the two victims and that John Embry had said to his son "Make sure you kill them," at which point the younger Embry stabbed the two.
The male victim said the two men had approached the car after the road rage incident and that John Embry had tried to kick him when a fight broke out between the male victim and William Embry, and that "they had clear intentions of killing them," the victim stated in court records. He said he felt something that he thought was getting punched in the abdomen, then realized he had been stabbed.
The male victim also said he heard one of the suspects tell a 12-year-old who was in the backseat to get back or he was next, court records show.
In an initial hearing in Floyd County Superior Court No. 1, a not guilty plea was entered on William Embry's behalf. He has a pretrial conference set for Sept. 7 with a jury trial Dec. 13 at 9 a.m.
