An apparent love triangle in Hoschton lead to a husband allegedly stabbing his wife’s boyfriend before the husband was hit by a vehicle by a motorist who was trying to stop what he believed was an attempted murder in a street, according to an incident report.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office has charged the husband, Phillip Stone Johnson, 37, of Hoschton, with aggravated assault and battery in the late Tuesday night attack. He remains in the Jackson County Jail and bond hasn’t been set. Johnson potentially faces additional charges.
The man that Johnson is accused of stabbing — a 31-year-old Buford man, and boyfriend of Johnson’s wife — remains at Northeast Georgia Medical Center. Investigators are expected to speak with the victim later Wednesday, according to Maj. David Cochran of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office.
The motorist accused of hitting Johnson with his vehicle will not be charged, Cochran said.
The incident started Tuesday evening at a downtown Hoschton residence on Main Street, which is just off Ga. Hwy. 53.
Johnson’s wife told deputies that she left him three weeks ago after a three-month affair with the Buford man. The two men and herself had returned to the house after eating at a restaurant to discuss visitation for the couple’s two children, the wife said.
The wife said Johnson then wanted her to drive her boyfriend home and return to him, according to an incident report. When she refused, Johnson attacked the boyfriend in the living room — where the boyfriend was thrown into a TV and a window, which broke.
Johnson grabbed a knife and stabbed the boyfriend in the stomach and continued to physically attack him, the wife told deputies. The wife said her boyfriend didn’t fight back and ran out of the house.
Johnson followed the boyfriend outside, across a field and to Ga. Hwy. 53 — where deputies say the attack continued. The wife said Johnson allegedly stabbed the boyfriend again on the side of the roadway and chased him, as the boyfriend ran and was screaming for help.
At that time, a man who was driving on Ga. Hwy. 53 said he saw two men fighting in the roadway. The motorist slowed his vehicle to avoid causing a wreck when the boyfriend came to his window and said, “He’s trying to kill me.” The boyfriend then ran south on Ga. Hwy. 53 to nearby E. Jefferson Street.
The motorist said the boyfriend’s shirt was bloody and he appeared to be injured, according to an incident report. The motorist said he could see Johnson running toward the boyfriend with a knife in his hands in an apparent attempt to stab him.
Believing that Johnson would kill the boyfriend, the motorist hit Johnson with his vehicle, according to an incident report. Johnson fell to the ground and he dropped a knife.
At that time, a Jackson County deputy arrived on the scene. The deputy said when he approached the intersection of Ga. Hwy. 53 and E. Jefferson Street, he could see two men in the roadway. One of the men had blood on his shirt, the deputy said. The wife was also waving at the deputy to get his attention.
When the deputy turned on his blue lights and moved around the traffic, Johnson “looked straight at me, hesitated for a short moment and ran towards (the boyfriend) in an aggressive manner,” the deputy wrote in his report.
Johnson then “pummeled” the boyfriend by hitting him in the head and upper body, according to the deputy. The boyfriend was trying to retreat from Johnson with his hand up to protect himself.
The deputy quickly got out of his patrol vehicle and ordered Johnson to stop assaulting the boyfriend, but the deputy had to repeat the instructions several times before Johnson stopped, according to an incident report. Johnson then stopped before the deputy arrested him. The deputy said he had his hand on a taser, should he have needed to use it.
Johnson smelled like he had been drinking alcohol, according to the deputy.
The deputy said Johnson kept shouting to the boyfriend, “I hope I killed you (expletive)” and “He’s the one (expletive) my wife…I stabbed him…what would you do?” The deputy said that Johnson tried to escape from him and move toward the boyfriend.
Meanwhile, the boyfriend collapsed in the roadway and the wife ran to his side to comfort him, according to an incident report.
The deputy said the wife had a knife in her hands, but she didn’t appear to be threatening in any way. She then dropped the knife on the roadway a few feet from the boyfriend.
The boyfriend was taken to Northeast Georgia Medical Center, Gainesville. An ambulance was also called for Johnson, who complained that his ribs hurt after being hit by the motorist’s vehicle.
Johnson later refused to be taken to a hospital because he believed that he was going to jail, anyway, according to deputies. One of the firefighters that responded to the scene told a deputy that Johnson said he only to hurt the man that he stabbed and he would have continued to stab the boyfriend, if he still had the knife, according to an incident report.
At some point, the wife left the scene to check on her two juvenile sons — who had witnessed the event. The wife later returned with the children, who were very emotional. One of them yelled, “I love you, dad” to Johnson while he was on Ga. Hwy 53. A deputy told the wife to take the children back indoors to her residence.
Another motorist — a woman who was driving on Ga. Hwy. 53 behind the first motorist — also told deputies that she witnessed the attack. Her story about the incident was similar to the first motorist’s account.