Man accused of stabbing homeless man, beating him with skateboard

IDAHO FALLS – A man was charged with a felony after he allegedly attacked a homeless man with a skateboard and stabbed him.

Collin James Mclemore, 24, was scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday after being charged with felony aggravated battery, but “refused from jail,” according to court documents.

Idaho Falls Police were called to an area on the west side of Idaho Falls on July 22 after reports of a stabbing. Officers say that a man had walked into road construction claiming he had been stabbed and had “blood coming from his chest.”

According to court documents, when officers arrived, they saw a man sitting on the curb. He told police he was homeless, and officers noticed a “3/4th inch puncture wound to the right breast” and “two lacerations to his head.”

The victim said that he was walking along the road when he walked up towards a white Chevrolet Tahoe.

He asked the people in the car for a lighter, and they said no. The victim told police that he then walked away, set his backpack down by a telephone pole, and continued to walk along the riverbank.

He later returned to retrieve his backpack and saw that it was gone, according to court documents. While looking for his backpack, he “came across a small homeless encampment along the road edge about 10 yards from the telephone pole.”

As he walked toward the camp, the victim said a “younger white man with thin hair and thin facial hair began to yell at him, ‘Get out of my campsite.'”

The man then allegedly hit the victim over the head with a skateboard four times. According to the police report, the two men began fighting and the victim “felt that he was stabbed.”

The victim then ran north until he found help at a construction site, where the police were finally called.

Officers later spoke with the victim again at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. He told officers that he couldn’t remember how he was stabbed, but officers said “the wound appeared to have been made in a thrusting motion.”

Later, officers were told that the stabbing had caused a penetrated lung.

Idaho Falls Police went to the area where the fight occurred and found a man and a woman inside a white Chevrolet Tahoe. The pair also said they were homeless.

The woman said that she had been lying down in the truck when a “crazy guy” came up to the vehicle, asked for some cigarettes and a lighter, and the two told him no.

She said that she then saw the man walk away and later get into a fight with another man but could not describe what he looked like.

Officers left to go search the homeless camp, where they found two small tents that “appeared abandoned.” During their search, they found a “small lunch pail in one of the abandoned tents” with paperwork inside belonging to Collin Mclemore.

The officer searched Mclemore’s name, and after seeing his driver’s license photo, recognized that he matched the description from the victim.

Officers searched for Mclemore but were initially unable to find him. A warrant was issued for his arrest on Sept 22, and Mclemore was eventually booked into the Bonneville County Jail on Sept 26.

After refusing to appear for his initial appearance, Mclemore is now scheduled to attend a second initial appearance on Sept. 29. He is also scheduled to attend a preliminary hearing on Oct. 7.

Though Mclemore has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.

If convicted, Mclemore could face up to up to 15 years in prison.