Syracuse, NY - A 48-year-old Syracuse woman told police her cousin stabbed her with a knife early this morning after she threw a bottle of Budweiser beer at her, city police said. Valerie Cunningham, of 1634 Valley Drive, told officers she began to walk down a stairwell at 252 Baker Ave. in Syracuse when she felt her cousin push her,...
Syracuse, NY - A 48-year-old Syracuse woman told police her cousin stabbed her with a knife early this morning after she threw a bottle of Budweiser beer at her, city police said.
Valerie Cunningham, of 1634 Valley Drive, told officers she began to walk down a stairwell at 252 Baker Ave. in Syracuse when she felt her cousin push her, police said. When Cunningham got outside she realized she had been stabbed in the back, city police said.
When police arrived shortly after 2 a.m., they saw Cunningham standing in the street yelling for help. They also saw blood on her clothes and a half-inch puncture wound to the left side of her back, police said.
When police asked where her cousin was, Cunningham said, "I hit her with a bottle and cut her. She is upstairs." Her cousin, Debra J. Saffold, 43, of 254 Baker Ave., also had blood stains on her shirt and suffered a cut to her right eye, police said.
Police charged both Saffold and Cunningham with second-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
Cunningham was taken to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse.
Saffold refused medical treatment and taken to the Onondaga County Justice Center. The jail staff refused to book Saffold because of her injury. Saffold was then taken to Upstate University Hospital for treatment. After she was released, Saffold returned to jail.
Cunningham told police that she and Saffold were "about to smoke crack" when she began to argue with her cousin about a tip jar, officers reported. Cunningham then told police that Saffold threw an ashtray at her, striking her in the left shoulder, a report said. Then Cunningham threw her bottle of beer at Saffold, striking her in the right eye, the police report said. Cunningham told police the argument started in her sister's home. When her sister asked her to leave, Cunningham said she grabbed her belongings and began to walk downstairs which is when her cousin stabbed her, police said.
Police reported that both Cunningham and Saffold were impaired by alcohol at the time of their arrest.