Rolling Knife Fight On Highway 24 In Orinda Injures One

A bizarre rolling altercation between the occupants of two cars traveling east on Highway 24 Tuesday triggered a frenzied reaction from panicked motorists and prompted a massive response from local law enforcement.

California Highway Patrol spokesman John Fransen reported that his office received a call of a possible collision on the highway at approximately 5:40 p.m., followed by calls of a physical altercation on eastbound Highway 24, near St. Stephens Drive in Orinda.

While CHP units were still responding to this incident additional information was received that a knife fight had ensued between occupants of the cars and that both parties were leaving the scene. A short time later, Lafayette Police advised that they were out with a victim of a stabbing that occurred on the freeway.

When CHP Officers arrived on scene, Orinda Police Department advised that they had a possible suspect detained within their city, according to Fransen.

After further investigation, it was determined that a traffic collision had not occurred but that rather the incident stemmed from a road rage occurrence on Highway 24 in Oakland. When the two cars caught up to each other near St. Stephens Drive one of the men, Steven Irving, 35, from Oakland, threw something at the car of the other motorist, Daryl Johnson, 31, from Hayward. A confrontation quickly escalated after both drivers stopped along the highway and got out of their vehicles.

During the confrontation, Fransen said, both parties produced knives and slashed the tires of each other’s vehicles. At some point, Irving stabbed Johnson in the upper leg and groin region. Johnson was transported to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek for treatment and Irving was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon and booked into the Martinez Detention Facility.