Security Guard Recovering From Stab Wounds

The condition of a department store security guard who was stabbed during a sidewalk scuffle with a would-be thief was upgraded to stable Monday, less than a day after his lung collapsed from a knife wound.

Ron Rhoads, 24, a guard at the Mervyn’s store at 18182 Irvine Blvd., was stabbed twice Sunday by a man he confronted just outside a store exit shortly after noon. According to police and a store manager, the man had bolted from an entrance near the men’s department with 19 pairs of Levi’s jeans.

Rhoads--one of two unarmed guards on duty--caught up, identified himself, and ordered the man back inside. Instead, the man dropped the stack of jeans and the two began wrestling, Police Sgt. Bill Fisher said.

In the next few seconds, Rhoads was stabbed under his left arm and in his left lower back by a straight-edged knife about 3 inches long, Fisher said. Police soon arrived and were told by witnesses that the assailant had fled across the street.

Soon after the stabbing, a man who identified himself first as Raul M. Espinoza, 23, of Santa Ana and later as Javier Raul Medina was arrested behind a Thrifty drug store across the street, Fisher said. No knife was found, he said.

Medina, who had minor cuts and bruises when arrested, was being held Monday at Orange County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.

Fisher said it is unusual for a shoplifting confrontation to end in violence.

“It’s not the norm,” he said. “The guards try to avoid physical altercations. And most of the time they can because most people cooperate and go back inside when they are told to.”