Off season - Alabama woman stabs two at wedding reception; man hit in head with beercan

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A wedding reception turned violent Saturday when an intoxicated woman stabbed two men during a backyard brawl in Lake View, according to police.

Jennifer Lee Hankins, 34, was charged with second-degree assault after witnesses told police she stabbed two men at the wedding reception on Michelle Drive.

One of the victims had asked Hankins, her boyfriend and children to leave after the boyfriend broke a $400 fan the hosts had borrowed for the reception Saturday, according to Lake View Police.

They were pulling away in their truck, witnesses told police, when Hankins jumped out of the vehicle and returned to the party with a knife.

One witness said she saw Hankins walk past, brandishing a knife, saying she "was taking a [expletive] beer for the road."

The witness' husband grabbed the knife from Hankins' hand and threw it over the backyard fence, police said, demanding that she "get the [expletive] out." He then pushed their truck while telling her to "just leave," the officer said.

Hankins' boyfriend jumped from the truck and yelled "Get your hands off my girl," witnesses told police, and taunted him to step off the property so they could fight.

The victim grabbed a beer can and threw it at Hankins' boyfriend, striking him in the forehead. While the men were fighting, Hankins grabbed another knife and stabbed the victim in the back, according to the police report. The blade went all the way into his back, the report said, to the handle.


The victim's wife yelled "She just stabbed my husband!" before the men at the reception tackled Hankins and disarmed her. During the struggle, witnesses said, she stabbed another man in the neck and mouth, perforating his upper lip and puncturing his gums. The report said Hankins was trying to cut his throat, but he "recoiled from the blade, causing the attempt at his throat to cut the side of his neck instead."

"Had offender contacted where she was aiming, offender would have severed [his] jugular vein, causing a fatal injury," the report said. "Had offender's stab to [the first victim's] back been positioned differently, it would have struck [his] lung and heart, spine and other vital arteries or veins, causing a fatal injury."

Hankins, who lives in Cullman, was arrested Saturday and charged with two counts of second-degree assault. She was released from the Tuscaloosa County Jail on Sunday after posting $5,000 bond.

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