Young Father In Critical Condition After Haverhill Stabbing
HAVERHILL (CBS) – A young father is clinging to life after he was stabbed trying to break up a fight in Haverhill. The man accused in the stabbing claims he flew into a fit of rage and doesn't remember stabbing anyone.
Matt Sabatino was enjoying a rare night out with his fiancée this weekend -- he ran out to the car, and walking back he saw a fight had broken out. As he leaned in to break it up, the dad of two little ones was stabbed deep in his chest.
"He's a funny kid," said his father Joel Sabatino. "He'd make you laugh. He really would."
Sabatino wants nothing more in this world than another laugh from his Matt. The 28-year-old is in critical condition at Mass General, machines running his body, after the vicious, random attack outside a Haverhill bar.
"Right in the heart," the Sabatino said. "It's just devastating. Lack of oxygen. He lost a lot of blood. He has a serious brain injury. We just don't know the outcome of yet."
Twenty-one year old Hayden Delafuente was held without bail at his arraignment Tuesday. Police arrested him with a bloody knife in his pocket Sunday morning, after Sabatino and another victim were stabbed as they tried to break up a fight."
"He was trying to kill him," Matt's brother Joel Sabatino Jr. said. "I don't wish pain on anyone but it will come back around. There's no point trying to find out why. There's no reason why. It just doesn't make any sense."
Now those who love him are praying for a miracle - to save their brother, friend, and a dad to two young children.
"He would give the shirt off his back to anybody," his sister Stephanie Richards said. "If anybody was ever in need. He was there. He brings a lot of light to our family and the world. We definitely need him."
"I have some anger but I don't have time for anger right now. I really don't. My focus is my son," Matt's father said. "We really need as much prayer as possible. It's up to the doctors and God."
It's really still hour by hour for the Haverhill family, who are pretty much living in a Boston hotel for the foreseeable future. If you'd like to support them and this young dad in critical condition visit: https://www.gofundme.com/help-matt-sabatino