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NBC4I
March 25, 2014
A full day after 25-year-old Rikki Whitaker was stabbed in an apparent random assault outside a gym on the city’s west side, she remains in critical condition at Mt. Carmel West Hospital.
Whitaker was stabbed in the parking lot of LA Fitness located at 1800 Tanglewood Park Blvd. at about 6:03 a.m. Thursday. She was stabbed in the upper right side of her abdomen.
A doctor who happened to be working out at the gym at the time of the assault, and a Army National Guard major are being credited with saving Whitaker’s life.
“I would like to thank the off-duty officer and the off-duty doctor that rendered aid to the victim at the gym. Her survival is in large part due to the emergency medical treatment that she received at the gym by those two individuals,” said Columbus police Sgt. Steven Little.
Major Patrick Rippeth, who has served two deployments, most recently in Iraq in 2008, said he has never used his training in the field until Thursday.
He had just started working out at the gym when he saw the commotion and knew something was wrong.
He said he could tell the staff was very upset and he went downstairs to investigate just as Whitaker was standing in the lobby bleeding.
“I got her to the couch and I knew that her adrenaline was running because she was just hysterical, but I also knew when that adrenaline ran out that the risk of shock would increase significantly,” said Rippeth.
Her condition became very serious after that. He said he checked her wound and was concerned.
“She was gripping my hand very, very tightly, which was a good sign,” said Rippeth. “I started to notice, though that the grip on my hand was dropping. Then the hand kind of went limp and she did eventually go into shock with the eyes rolling back in the head and there were some convulsions there at the end.”
That was about the time EMTs arrived and took over.
Columbus police said the action he and the off-work doctor made an incredible difference.
Investigators said they believe the suspects attempted to abduct Whitaker as she was exiting her car.
The suspect is described as a black male who may have left in a silver vehicle with tinted windows.
Anyone with information is asked to call 614-645-4730 or 614-645-4624.
