Probationer charged with trying to kill Palm Springs man with box cutter
City News Service
INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) – A convicted felon accused of slashing a Palm Springs man with a box cutter, then fleeing the scene and almost making it out of the city until he was apprehended, was charged today with attempted murder and other offenses.
James Jeremiah Fuller, 41, of Palmdale was arrested Tuesday following an investigation by the Palm Springs Police Department.
Along with attempted murder, Fuller was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, probation violations and sentence-enhancing allegations of using a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony and inflicting great bodily injury.
The probationer, who was being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Benoit Detention Center, was slated to make his initial court appearance Friday afternoon at the Larson Justice Center in Indio.
According to police, shortly before 4 a.m. Tuesday, Fuller was involved in an unspecified confrontation with the victim, whose identity was not disclosed, in the 600 block of South Palm Canyon Drive, near Indian Canyon Drive, on the western edge of Palm Springs.
During the encounter, Fuller allegedly pulled a box cutter and attacked the man, inflicting a gash across his head, police alleged.
The victim called 911, and patrol officers converged on the location within minutes, discovering the man bleeding and in need of immediate medical attention.
“He provided limited information, stating he had been attacked by … a male who had fled northbound in a white pickup truck,” the police department stated.
The victim was taken to a regional trauma center for treatment, and officers initiated a search, netting results less than a half-hour later when they spotted a Ford F-150 matching the description of the alleged getaway vehicle nearly four miles north of where the alleged attack happened, in the area of North Indian Canyon Drive and West Tramview Road, according to authorities. The location is a mile south of Interstate 10.
The pickup was stopped by patrol units. Fuller was in the driver’s seat and taken into custody without incident. A woman was with him in the passenger seat. She wasn’t identified, and she wasn’t taken into custody.
A witness back at the scene of the alleged attack corroborated the victim’s statement and positively identified Fuller as the alleged assailant, police said.
Court records show he has documented prior convictions for assault with a deadly weapon, robbery and witness intimidation.