Driver stabbed in Gadsden altercation

A car wrecked in Gadsden on West Meighan Boulevard Monday night when a passenger in the car stabbed the driver several times during an argument, according to police reports.  Gadsden police are investigating the incident, which happened about 11 p.m. in the 3900 block of West Meighan. A 37-year-old Gadsden man driving a 2005 Chevrolet Impala picked up a 52-year-old Attalla man at an Attalla service station after the man called for a ride. A 37-year-old woman was riding in the front passenger seat.  According to the driver, as the car was heading east on Meighan, the Attalla man began arguing over money he said was owed him. As the argument grew more heated, the driver pulled into the Alabama State Trooper post and back out onto the highway. Then the Attalla man began striking the driver from the back seat.  The driver drove across the highway to the Rodeway Inn, and the two men began to fight there in the parking lot. The driver said he reached into his trunk to pull out an axe handle and began swinging it at the man, who tried to stab him with a pocket knife. The Attalla man told police he "got close enough to him and started cutting" the driver.  The driver got back into his car and backed onto the highway across four lanes of traffic and the median, trying to get away, he said. The Attalla man jumped into the back seat while the car was moving and began stabbing the driver in the chest several times, as well as slicing open his arm in several places.  The altercation came to an apparent end when the car struck a tree in a yard, demolishing it and a flower bed. The man with the knife exited the car, and the driver went onto Riverview Regional Hospital. The Attalla man walked home and got a ride to Gadsden Regional Medical Center from a neighbor.  The Attalla man reported injuries to his knees, hands and arms. Police are investigating.