Lake Placid stabbing suspect arrested
Lake Placid police Chief Bill Moore directs Devin Colmenero to the police station after his court arraignment Thursday afternoon. Police charged Colmenero with assault after he allegedly stabbed and sliced a man multiple times at Teddy Bear Park early Sunday morning. (Enterprise photo — Griffin Kelly)
LAKE PLACID — A Saranac Lake man was arrested for allegedly stabbing and slashing a Lake Placid man multiple times at Teddy Bear Park on Elm Street early Sunday morning.
Local police arrested Devin M. Colmenero, 25, at his Park Avenue, Saranac Lake, apartment at 12:22 p.m. Thursday and charged him with assault in the first degree, a felony, and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, a misdemeanor. The Saranac Lake Police Department provided assistance.
Police also searched Colmenero’s home and car for evidence. His vehicle, a red Plymouth Laser, had no hood and an exposed engine.
He was arraigned at the Lake Placid Village Court and remanded to the Essex County Jail in Lewis in lieu of $100,000 cash bail or $200,000 bond.
The alleged victim, Samuel Barclay, who named himself, said he and his friend Tricia Auer were walking his dog through the park the morning of the assault. He said Auer was urinating behind a batter’s cage when Colmenero attacked him. Police have the time of the attack recorded as 4:15 a.m. Sunday.
Lake Placid police officer Heather Grower and Assistant Chief Charles Dobson search Devin Colmenero’s car outside his apartment on Saranac Lake’s Park Avenue Thursday. Police said they did not remove the hood; it was already off. (Enterprise photo — Peter Crowley)
“I tried to protect myself,” Barclay said. “My clothes were soaked with blood.”
After Colmenero left, Barclay — a 28-year-old who’s lived in Lake Placid nearly all his life — called 911 and was transported to the Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake via ambulance.
“I was very thirsty, cold from blood loss and scared,” he said.
Lake Placid police Chief Bill Moore said the injuries were serious and that Barclay wasn’t able to talk much about the attack at first.
Barclay said he suffered two stab wounds in the stomach and abdomen, and a cut on the neck.
“It was one centimeter away from my jugular [vein],” he said. “Doctors said I should’ve died.”
Barclay said he was in the hospital for about seven hours and received multiple stitches. He’s back home now.
Police said the victim knew Colmenero and that the attack was not random. Barclay said he believes the stabbing was an act of jealousy related to Auer. During the arraignment, Colmenero suggested that it was an act of self-defense.
