A young man en route back home to Alabama with his wife was viciously attacked by an assailant with a hatchet that severed an artery in his neck as they waited at a bus stop in Tucson, Arizona.
Jacob Couch, 32, a father of two young teenagers, was waiting at the bus stop with his wife, Kristen, who said she and her husband had told the man they were leaving as Jacob bent over to pick up their luggage on April 5.
That’s the moment the alleged assailant, later identified as 25-year-old Daniel Michael, who had allegedly been yelling at the couple, according to court records—viciously attacked her husband, Kristen said, adding, “Seeing your husband get almost decapitated and being the only one to help like, it’s hard.”
“Looked at him and could tell he was agitated and told my husband don’t say anything else to him,” she said. “I told him we were leaving, like, okay, just calm down and he waited until my husband bent down to come up behind him and attack him.”
“The injury cut the artery in the back of his neck in half it went so deep that it hit his skull,” Couch’s sister-in-law Erica Sims told KOLD.
“If you’re going downtown when you’re drunk carrying a large machete like that, you have no other intentions other than to cause harm to somebody,” Coach’s brother Luke told KOLD. “He went down there looking for trouble and it just so happens to be my brother who is not going to make it home from this.”
Couch was transported to Banner University Medical Center, where surgery was performed, but he was left on life support. Doctors said Couch suffered an anoxic brain injury from the lack of oxygen before he got to the hospital.
“The doctors told us he wouldn’t even be able to perceive what we told him but the other day we were all talking to him he started crying, his face all crunched up and he was trying to open his eyes,” Kristen said after visiting him in the hospital.
She said she told her husband, “That he’s stronger than he thinks he is and that we’re all here and we’re all going to be here when he comes back,” Kristen said. “We’re not giving up until he does and he’s a fighter and we believe in the power of prayer.”
Michael, who reportedly said he had been drinking earlier, denied the attack. When police showed him surveillance video of the area where the attack took place, he confirmed that it was him in the footage, according to KOLD.
Michael is being held in jail on a $1 million bond.
Meet Daniel Michael, who was arrested in Tucson, AZ after he allegedly struck Jacob Couch in the neck with a hatchet while he was sitting at a bus stop with his wife.
Jacob and his wife Kristen were reportedly staying in Tucson to mourn the death of their son who was stillborn.… pic.twitter.com/ISDcYjsarL
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 15, 2025
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[[{“value”:”
A young man en route back home to Alabama with his wife was viciously attacked by an assailant with a hatchet that severed an artery in his neck as they waited at a bus stop in Tucson, Arizona.
Jacob Couch, 32, a father of two young teenagers, was waiting at the bus stop with his wife, Kristen, who said she and her husband had told the man they were leaving as Jacob bent over to pick up their luggage on April 5.
That’s the moment the alleged assailant, later identified as 25-year-old Daniel Michael, who had allegedly been yelling at the couple, according to court records—viciously attacked her husband, Kristen said, adding, “Seeing your husband get almost decapitated and being the only one to help like, it’s hard.”
“Looked at him and could tell he was agitated and told my husband don’t say anything else to him,” she said. “I told him we were leaving, like, okay, just calm down and he waited until my husband bent down to come up behind him and attack him.”
“The injury cut the artery in the back of his neck in half it went so deep that it hit his skull,” Couch’s sister-in-law Erica Sims told KOLD.
“If you’re going downtown when you’re drunk carrying a large machete like that, you have no other intentions other than to cause harm to somebody,” Coach’s brother Luke told KOLD. “He went down there looking for trouble and it just so happens to be my brother who is not going to make it home from this.”
Couch was transported to Banner University Medical Center, where surgery was performed, but he was left on life support. Doctors said Couch suffered an anoxic brain injury from the lack of oxygen before he got to the hospital.
“The doctors told us he wouldn’t even be able to perceive what we told him but the other day we were all talking to him he started crying, his face all crunched up and he was trying to open his eyes,” Kristen said after visiting him in the hospital.
She said she told her husband, “That he’s stronger than he thinks he is and that we’re all here and we’re all going to be here when he comes back,” Kristen said. “We’re not giving up until he does and he’s a fighter and we believe in the power of prayer.”
Michael, who reportedly said he had been drinking earlier, denied the attack. When police showed him surveillance video of the area where the attack took place, he confirmed that it was him in the footage, according to KOLD.
Michael is being held in jail on a $1 million bond.
Meet Daniel Michael, who was arrested in Tucson, AZ after he allegedly struck Jacob Couch in the neck with a hatchet while he was sitting at a bus stop with his wife.
Jacob and his wife Kristen were reportedly staying in Tucson to mourn the death of their son who was stillborn.… pic.twitter.com/ISDcYjsarL
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 15, 2025
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