Washington man pleads not guilty in squid boat stabbing

A 39-year-old Washington man faces assault with a deadly weapon and other charges for allegedly stabbing another man in the back of the head while aboard a squid fishing boat off the San Mateo County coast earlier this week, prosecutors said Friday.

Orion Carlson, a resident of Chimacum, Washington, entered a not guilty plea Thursday to charges related to the stabbing that occurred Tuesday night on a boat that had departed from Princeton-by-the-Sea.

Carlson was in the galley of the boat with the 40-year-old victim and another man when he allegedly suddenly stood up and stabbed the victim with a knife in the back of the head without provocation, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.

The third man pulled Carlson away and said he was making incoherent statements. The boat returned to the harbor and the victim was taken to a hospital with a wound that required seven staples to close, prosecutors said.

Carlson, who is being represented by the county’s Private Defender Program, will return to court on Aug. 9 for the preliminary hearing on the charges and remains in custody on $25,000 bail.