US airman who thwarted French train attack stabbed in brawl

FILE - In this Sept. 17, 2015 file photo, Air Force Airman 1st Class Spencer Stone sits in the Oval Office of the White House during a meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington. An Air Force spokesman said on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015, that Stone, who helped subdue an attacker on a Paris-bound train in August, is in stable condition after being stabbed in California. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

U.S. airman Class Spencer Stone, celebrated as a hero for helping to stop a terror attack on a French train over the summer, was stabbed and seriously wounded outside a bar in his hometown early Thursday in what police said was an alcohol-related brawl.

Mr. Stone, 23, was knifed three times in the upper body but was expected to survive after about two hours of surgery, said Dr. J. Douglas Kirk, chief medical officer at UC Davis Medical Center.

“This incident is not related to terrorism in any way,” Deputy Police Chief Ken Bernard said. “We know it’s not related to what occurred in France months ago.”

A grainy surveillance video from a camera outside a liquor store showed a man who appeared to be Mr. Stone fighting with several people at an intersection. The group spilled into the street as people took swings at each other, and one person got knocked down.

Police said two assailants fled in a car. No immediate arrests were made.

Mr. Bernard said Mr. Stone was out with four friends when they got into a fight with another group of people. The deputy chief would not say what sparked the argument. He said there was no evidence the assailants knew who Stone was.

Mr. Bernard said he did not know whether Stone was drinking, but others in his group were.

Dr. Kirk said Mr. Stone remained heavily sedated in the hospital’s intensive care unit. He declined to discuss any details about the surgery or whether any vital organs were damaged in the stabbing, beyond saying Mr. Stone had “significant injuries.”

In August, Mr. Stone and two of his childhood friends from Sacramento, National Guardsman Alek Skarlatos and college student Anthony Sadler, were vacationing in Europe when they sprang into action aboard a Paris-bound passenger train and tackled Ayoub El—Khazzani, a man with ties to radical Islam. He had boarded the train with a Kalashnikov rifle, a pistol and a box cutter.

Mr. Stone, who is assigned to Travis Air Force Base in California, suffered a severely cut thumb and a knife wound to his neck during the struggle with the gunman.

President Barack Obama met with the three Americans last month, praising them for their quick thinking and courage and calling them “the very best of America.” They were also awarded France’s highest honor by President Francois Hollande.