Stabbing victim fought for his life

While heading to catch a train late Sunday after a stressful shift working security at a Loop high-rise, Todd Light paused for a moment on the Washington Street Bridge to look at the water.

It was calming. He saw fish jump.

Then he looked to his left and saw a man with a knife coming at him.

“He just said ‘Give me your f—— wallet’ and started stabbing me before I could even do anything,” Light said Monday.

“I basically wrestled him to the ground and began hitting him. I was hitting every part of him I could get my fists on so he would let go of the knife and stop hurting me.”

As Light, who weighs about 310 pounds and stands nearly 6 feet tall, lay on top of his assailant to subdue the man, the bloodstain on his shirt got bigger.

“I just was thinking ‘I hope I don’t die,’ ” he said.

A passerby flagged down a motorist, told the driver to call 911 and then knelt on the attacker so Light could check his wounds.

Police and paramedics arrived moments later. As Light lay on the stretcher he called his partner and told him to come to Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Light was lucky. The wounds bled a lot but were superficial. He didn’t even need stitches.

“Basically the guy didn’t know how to use a knife. Thank God for that.”

“Plus I’m a big guy. Well, I’m a fat guy,” he said with a laugh. “So I don’t think it went through the layers down there.”

“If he knew what he was doing I’d be in a hell of a lot of trouble right now.”

At the hospital, Light’s partner was thankful but enraged.

“He was just like, ‘F—— people. F—— city.’”

Light’s attacker is in custody, Chicago Police said. Charges are pending.

“He was out of his mind. I don’t think he was entirely there in his head,” Light said. “As soon as I got him on the ground he started apologizing to me and explaining about his dead mother and became docile.”

Light plans to thank the good Samaritan who came to his aide. Police offered to give him the man’s contact information.

“God Bless him. He didn’t have to do that.”