Family of stabbing victim grateful to good Samaritan who stepped in, saved her life

LAUDERDALE-BY-THE-SEA, Fla. – The woman who was victimized in a stabbing that occurred earlier this month remains hospitalized.

Her loved ones recently met the good Samaritan who saved her.

The family said the victim, Melissa Comstock, was in town only for the weekend visiting her two children, but her ex had learned she was newly engaged to be married, and that’s why they said he viciously attacked her.

Another man, David Spaulding, stepped in to stop that attack, almost definitely saving her life.

“You helped our family, you saved our sister, her daughter,” said Monique Morrison, Comstock’s sister. “Thank you for letting us connect with you. Thank you for doing what you did. Thank you and your daughter. Thank you so much.”

The incident occurred on March 10 in a Lauderdale-by-the-Sea parking lot.

Spaulding stepped in when he heard screams coming from inside a Jeep.

In that vehicle he found Damion Matthews violently stabbing his ex-wife, Comstock.

“They’ve had a very abusive relationship,” said Elizabeth Tolbert, Comstock’s mother. “She’s left him umpteen times because he’s been abusive. Never to this extent, but he’s been abusive.”

Spaulding, who spoke to Local 10 News a few days later, confronted Matthews.

“And then he just calmly walked off,” Spaulding said. “It was almost bizarre how calm it was.”

Spaulding then applied pressure to Comstock’s multiple stab wounds to the throat, which were gushing blood.

“Surgeon said that if you wouldn’t have done what you did, she would have been dead,” said Tolbert. “So my heart is totally indebted to your family.”

Comstock remains in the ICU at Broward North Medical Center in Deerfield Beach with severe injuries including brain bleeds.

“It’s the worst day of my life,” said Morrison. “I never want my sister to have suffered any of that. She’s an innocent person in all of this.”

Comstock, recently engaged to be married, she will need extensive rehabilitation, but will survive, likely thanks to a quick thinking and brave tourist who didn’t think twice about stepping in.

“God put you there for a reason, he really did, so thank you so much,” said Tolbert.

Comstock’s two children are now in the care of their older sister.

There are many medical bills now piling up for the family which said Comstock did not have insurance.

They have started a GoFundMe page to help with medical bills, which can be found by clicking here.


About the Author
Cody Weddle headshot

Cody Weddle joined Local 10 News as a full-time reporter in South Florida in August of 2022. Before that, Cody worked regularly with Local 10 since January of 2017 as a foreign correspondent in Venezuela and Colombia.

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