An Oregon DJ was stabbed in the back by a stripper at the nightclub where he was working, shocking surveillance camera footage has shown.
Duncan Allen was standing next to his mixing decks as he prepared to spin some tunes at Casa Diablo Vegan Strip Club in Portland – where he worked for more than a decade – when the frenzied attack occurred.
Standing just behind him was Peyton Lathan, 29, an erotic dancer at the club who has also worked at the venue for over 10 years.
Lathan, who later was described as being ‘possessed by a demon’ during the frenzied attack appeared to be contemplating her next move when suddenly she launched an unprovoked attack on the unsuspecting DJ.
Allen looked to be completely surprised by Lathan, who was seen making several blows with a knife, allegedly stabbing him in the back.
Lathan stared at him for a few seconds following the wild outburst. Allen attempted to run away from the danger, and headed over to the bar area.
‘I was on my computer getting some songs ready and next thing I knew I felt like a 500-pound man punch me in the back as hard as humanly possible,’ Allen said to KPTV.
‘So I turned around expecting there to be a huge dude about to fight me and it was her [the erotic dancer] and she was standing there holding a knife.
‘I still didn’t know I was stabbed at that point. Then I took a breath in and realized my left lung had collapsed,’ he said.
Luckily, his injuries were not life-threatening and the DJ has said that he is grateful things weren’t worse.
‘She could’ve cracked my ribs. She could have stabbed me in the kidney. She could have stabbed me in the neck. She could have stabbed me in the spine,’ Allen said.
‘If I have to be honest with you, I think she should get charged the highest because the fact is this was premeditated.’
Police arrested Lathan on two charges of assault, as well as a charge for unlawful possession of a weapon.
She was found hiding in bushes next to the road just police were helping escort Allen’s ambulance to hospital.
During her arrest, Lathan told police she was ‘pleading insanity’ adding, ‘that man is a drug dealer.’
Allen, who denies such claims, said he only wishes someone who had seen Lathan’s concerning behavior had spoken up sooner.
‘I would like to see concerning behaviors taken more seriously,’ he said adding how had someone spoken up about Lathan’s behavior beforehand, she may never have had the chance to attack him.
The owner of the club, Johnny Diablo Zukle described the stripper as being ‘possessed by a demon’ at the time of the attack.
‘She was always a little off, but she never exhibited signs of violent tendencies,’ Zukle said.
‘She definitely had a mental health crisis. I think she had intended to kill someone, and it just happened to be Duncan, and when I think about it when she was in the dressing room for about 10 minutes, she seemed like she was possessed by a demon.’
The DJ, meanwhile, used his moment in the spotlight to thank workers at the nightclub who helped to save his life.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help Allen pay his medical bills.
Paramedics told him he was just minutes away from drowning in his own blood that was slowly filling his lung.
Lathan is expected to be arraigned on her indictment Tuesday morning.
Casa Diablo is one of the better-known strip clubs in a city that has many.
It opened in 2008 and got attention by touting itself as the world’s first vegan strip club.
It made national news in 2013 following the disclosure that U.S. Senate candidate Cory Booker of New Jersey exchanged mildly flirtatious Twitter messages with a Casa Diablo stripper. Booker won his election.
In 2015 it gained national attention for its vegan menu but was accused of withholding more than meat.
Two former Casa Diablo dancers filed a federal lawsuit alleging they did not receive the minimum wage and were subjected to unwanted touching by customers and bouncers.