Suspect pleads not guilty to attempted murder in violent road rage attack in San Diego County

CARLSBAD, Calif. (KABC) -- A 49-year-old man accused of attacking two people during a road rage confrontation in Carlsbad -- including allegedly stabbing a passenger multiple times -- pleaded not guilty Wednesday to attempted murder and assault charges.

Authorities said the incident began Sunday evening after a rear-end crash involving a pickup truck.

According to the California Highway Patrol, what started as a verbal altercation escalated when Orlando Query Chavez allegedly punched a woman sitting in the driver's seat multiple times and then attacked the male passenger.

Video recorded by a witness showed the confrontation unfolding.

"Oh, oh oh ... He's punching," a witness can be heard saying in the footage.

Prosecutors told the court the male passenger was stabbed multiple times.

"On video, you can see the defendant raise his shirt, take a pocket knife from the side of his waist, and then approach, unannounced, the passenger side where the victim was sitting. Defendant then put his hand through the open window and began stabbing the male victim multiple times in the stomach," a prosecutor said during Wednesday's hearing.

Chavez appeared in court Wednesday and entered a not guilty plea. Prosecutors described the passenger's injuries as life-threatening.

"The wounds, for the court's awareness, were so deep that the doctors could not figure out where the bleeding was coming from and how to stop the bleeding, so they physically had to take out his intestines, operate then on the side and then put them back in his body," a prosecutor said. "He is currently in the ICU with those life-threatening injuries."

Meanwhile, the woman suffered bruising, swelling and a cut to her face and is undergoing CT scans for her injuries.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the judge denied bail.

"By clear and convincing evidence, there is a substantial likelihood the defendant's release would result in great bodily injury to others," the judge said.

Court proceedings also revealed that Chavez has a 1998 conviction for assault with a deadly weapon.

His next court date is scheduled for August 13.