A casual evening among friends took a dark turn when a disagreement over a spilled beer escalated into a stabbing incident.
On January 26, Moises Israel Mendoza, 19, was apprehended in Miami, Florida, following tensions that flared after a friend accidentally spilled beer on his cellphone. Court records reveal Mendoza faces charges of attempted second-degree murder with a deadly weapon and tampering with evidence. Despite these charges, he has entered a plea of not guilty, as reported by Oxygen.
The victim, whose identity remains undisclosed, recounted the events to police while receiving treatment at Jackson Memorial Hospital. According to an arrest affidavit seen by Oxygen, the victim explained that the incident followed a fishing trip with Mendoza and others.
After their outing, the group gathered at a friend’s house to enjoy their catch. The victim reportedly picked up Mendoza’s phone to play music, inadvertently spilling beer on it, which sparked a heated exchange.
Later, as a friend was driving the victim home with Mendoza also in the car, tensions rose again. The victim claims he splashed beer from a bottle towards Mendoza as he exited the vehicle, leading to what he described as an “attack.”
The victim did not see a knife, but upon noticing significant bleeding, he left the car and sought help from a nearby officer. The affidavit mentioned that officers found bloodstains on the car seats, corroborating the victim’s account.
Police interviewed the driver, who said in the affidavit that the victim and Mendoza argued in the car and that he saw the victim throwing beer at Mendoza. The driver said he witnessed the victim and Mendoza “fighting” inside the car, per the document, and saw the victim bleeding, however they said they only realized that Mendoza was holding a knife after the victim had left the car.
The driver claimed in the document that they dropped off Mendoza at his home and saw him throw the knife and his shirt inside a sidewalk garbage can.
Mendoza told detectives, as cited in the affidavit, that his friend “intentionally” poured beer on his phone which started an argument. Mendoza also told police in the document that, in the car, the victim had thrown a beer bottle at his face. Feeling frustrated, Mendoza told police in the document, he stabbed the victim with a kitchen knife, which he claimed to have found in the friend’s car.
Mendoza told police that he concealed the knife when he got into the car, because “he had already planned to stab the victim” if the victim decided to escalate the previous argument.
An attorney for Mendoza declined to comment when asked by Oxygen.
