An off-duty Fort Lauderdale firefighter was stabbed early Thursday morning after he stepped outside a nightclub in downtown's Himmarshee District.
Chris Archambault, 26, was taken to Broward General Medical Center with two stab wounds to the left side of his chest, according to the police report. He was in fair condition later Thursday, hospital officials said.
Archambault, who stands 6 feet 6 inches tall and weighs 250 pounds, told police his attacker kept bumping into him at Capone's. When the firefighter walked outside at about 1:30 a.m., he said he was followed and then stabbed in an alley nearby in the 300 block of Southwest Second Street, according to the police report. His attacker then continued to walk down the alley, witnesses told police. No one has been arrested, police said.
"Chris said he felt like the guy slapped him on the side twice," said fire-rescue union president Mike Salzano, who visited him in the hospital Thursday. "He didn't think it was anything. He looked down and saw the knife in the guy's hand and then he reached down and felt blood."
Archambault told Salzano he feels lucky to be alive. Salzano described Archambault, who has been a city firefighter for almost two years, as a "very calm, laid back, soft spoken, and hard working" person who has never caused any trouble at work.
"He's kind of confused why somebody would" stab him, Salzano said. "He's just really wondering why."
Archambault was scheduled to work Friday on Rescue 2, the ambulance that ended up rushing him to the hospital, Salzano said. The firefighters on duty early Thursday morning knew they were responding to a call of an injured firefighter or police officer.
The attack follows a meeting between Fort Lauderdale City Manager George Gretsas and Himmarshee business owners to identify ways to better control the crowds that frequent the district.
"It's an unfortunate incident that highlights that it's important to focus on the small things so that larger things don't get out of hand," Gretsas said of the stabbing. "It's important to manage what we have so that we don't have an incident that ultimately creates such a bad reputation on the area."
