Michael McKnight, 47

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Michael McKnight, 47, a black man, was stabbed near the Olympic Hotel at the intersection of 7th and Kohler streets in downtown Los Angeles, and died at 4:30 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 26.

A woman found him lying with a stab wound to the chest in the roadway, said Lt. Paul Vernon of LAPD Central Division.

Later, investigators pieced together the quarrel that preceded his death. Apparently, McKnight had confronted James Harvey Stewart, a white, 53-year-old long-haul trucker, saying Stewart owed him $20. McKnight dwells on Skid Row; Stewart was just visiting.

McKnight demanded the $20 and grabbed Stewart. Stewart stabbed him. McKnight threw Stewart down, and stumbled, wounded, down the street.

Stewart ran. The knife-carrying trucker later called police from Torrance Memorial Hospital, where he was being treated for a broken arm. He was arrested, but prosecutors ruled the killing a justifiable homicide, so he wasn’t charged.