Groom Stabbed At Bachelor Party, Suspect Released

A Santa Ana man accused in the drunken stabbing of his soon-to-be-wed friend at his bachelor party in Palm Springs is out of custody Wednesday, according to court records.

Prosecutors decided not to charge Russell Elliott, pending further review of the case, a Riverside County District Attorney’s Office spokesman said.

Elliott, 28, was released from the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility late Tuesday.

He was arrested Friday on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. He got into a tussle with his friend, the groom, about 9:45 a.m. that morning and ended up stabbing him with a steak knife, according to police.

“Both subjects were heavily intoxicated and horse playing and both were cut,” Palm Springs police Officer Rhonda Long said. “One of them had a steak knife in his hands when they fell to the ground.”

Elliott and the victim were taken to hospitals to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries, Palm Springs police Sgt. Mike Kovaleff said.

The two-day window in which prosecutors have to file charges and keep a suspect jailed expired Tuesday without charges being filed.

The groom, whose name was withheld by police, did not want to press charges against his friend, Long said. The victim suffered three stab wounds, one in the upper left side of his chest, she said.

“He was lucky, lucky, lucky. Thank God it didn’t go through his heart,” Long said. “He almost didn’t make it to his wedding.”

Elliott was staying with three other friends in a Palm Springs resort in the 1100 block of North Palm Canyon Drive to hold a bachelor party for the man who turned out to be the stabbing victim.