Man Gets 40-80 Years For Box Cutter Attack On Detroit Paramedics

DETROIT (WWJ) - The man accused of attacking two Detroit emergency medical technicians last year will spend 40 to 80 years in prison.

Michael Montgomery was sentenced Thursday in Wayne County Circuit Court. He pleaded guilty to multiple charges regarding the ambulance crew, including two counts of assault with intent to murder, one count of assault with intent to maim and two counts of obstructing causing serious impairment of a police officer. In exchange for his plea, a charge of assault with intent to do great bodily harm was dismissed.

The attack happened just after midnight on October 20, 2015 in a neighborhood just east of the Lodge Freeway along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The paramedics, identified as Alfredo Rojas, 25, and Kelly Adams, 49, had been called to the area to treat Montgomery's girlfriend, who had an ankle injury. Officials say Montgomery became "agitated" when he was told he couldn't get into the ambulance with his girlfriend and attacked the EMTs with a box cutter.

Montgomery first went for the Rojas, who had been working with the department for about two years. When Adams, a 13-year department veteran, stepped in to help her partner, Montgomery turned his attention — and his weapon — to her. Adams said she tried to fight Montgomery off with a stool, but her actions "didn't faze him."

Both paramedics were stabbed and slashed repeatedly before making it back to their vehicle.  Adams then drove the pair to Detroit Receiving Hospital where both were admitted in serious condition. A fire commissioner said the EMTs "came to within inches of dying."

After being released from the hospital about 36 hours later, Rojas said he felt lucky to be alive. He nearly lost his eye in the attack.

"He pulled the knife out and slashed my partner and I stepped in to try to help her out," Rojas told WDIV-TV. "I felt him hit my face and I thought it was just a punch. I didn't know he actually slashed me. I think the adrenaline kicked in. It wasn't until the whole thing was done that I realized my hand was cut and I was really bleeding bad from my face."

Investigators have also linked Montgomery to other cases going back 10 years.  In one case, from January 2006, it's alleged that Montgomery sexually assaulted and fatally stabbed a 16-year-old girl behind a building in the 19848 block of Joy Road. In another case, from December 2005, Montgomery allegedly kidnapped, tortured and sexually assaulted a 33-year-old woman in an alley in the 8600 block of Auburn.