One of the two men who was stabbed Sunday at the top of Koko Crater trail said the attack was random and the 19-year-old suspect, who was wielding a knife with a 4- to 5-inch blade, came up behind him and told him to hang up his cell phone before allegedly stabbing him in the back.

"It's not something you could expect," said Guy Tanaka, 55, of Riverside, Calif., who was discharged from The Queen's Medical Center yesterday. "You can't figure crazy."

Tanaka, who is visiting family in the Islands, said he was sitting near a metal platform at the top of the summit and was talking to his wife in California on a cell phone when the suspect, wearing only black boxer shorts, approached him and told him to hang up. "He said I needed to end my phone call," said Tanaka. "When I looked up at him, I saw a knife ... and I was out of there. I just jumped (to flee). He got me before I was able to jump. Then, I ... ran."

As Tanaka fled, the suspect then allegedly went after another man at the summit who officials said is in his 20s. The man was critically injured, with multiple stab wounds, and ended up falling partway down the slope into the crater. It is unclear whether he was pushed or jumped to avoid his attacker.

The second victim was at Queen's, police said.

The suspect, identified as Kalihi resident Benjamin Davis, was arrested Sunday night in connection with the case. Police opened an investigation into two counts of second-degree attempted murder. The stabbing happened about 3:22 p.m., and Davis was caught some four hours later after a massive manhunt. He was naked and was in a tree, witnesses said, yelling for police to come and get him. The suspect was taken to Castle Medical Center for observation before he was moved to police headquarters to be booked. Police said charges against Davis are expected today.

MISSED VITAL ORGANS

Tanaka, who was initially in serious condition, said he was stabbed once below the left shoulder and he described his wound as at least a "couple inches" deep. It missed his lungs and other vital organs, but he said he would have to stay in Hawai'i for at least another week for observation because of an air bubble in his chest cavity caused by the stabbing that could expand if he were to fly and become potentially life-threatening.

Tanaka, a municipal tree inspector in Riverside, was born and raised in the Islands. On Sunday, he was enjoying the ninth day of a 10-day vacation in Hawai'i to visit with his parents and other family. He said he had never hiked Koko Crater and so decided to walk to the summit on a whim, thinking he would be down in time for the Super Bowl. "I never got to watch the Super Bowl," Tanaka quipped yesterday from the hospital.

Tanaka said he walked up the trail slowly and at one point, he thinks his alleged attacker may have passed him. He said he didn't take much notice of the man or think he was strange in any way. When he got to the summit, Tanaka said he sat down to call his wife. They were chatting when Tanaka was interrupted.

"He was talking to me on the phone, saying, 'It's so beautiful up here,' " Linda Tanaka said.

Tanaka said she didn't know what was going on when her husband abruptly stopped the phone conversation. All she heard was her husband saying, "Excuse me," to someone and then she heard something like a scuffle before her husband's phone went dead. In the chaos, Guy Tanaka's phone broke. For the next 15 minutes, his wife kept trying to call him back before he was able to use a bystander's phone to reach her.

That phone call, Linda Tanaka said, was not easy.

VICTIM 'VERY CALM'

"He told me, 'I just got stabbed,' " Tanaka said. "But he was very calm. He said, 'I love you.' "

Tanaka said she was worried about her husband, but also knew he was going to be fine.

"I knew that care was coming to him," Tanaka said.

When Guy Tanaka fled from his attacker, he scrambled down the trail from the summit to the top of the tramway, where he ran into Gerri Watanabe and her sister, who were heading back down the trail. Watanabe, 62, said Tanaka told them to run. But Watanabe noticed Tanaka was bleeding badly from the wound on his back.

"He started yelling, 'Everybody get off the mountain,' " Watanabe said.

There were about two dozen people on the trail Sunday, but most were not near the top.

Watanabe told Tanaka to sit down and drink some Gatorade while she called 911.

Before Watanabe pointed out his wound, Tanaka said he hadn't realized he was badly injured.

Watanabe and her sister then asked two teenagers who were nearby to stay with Tanaka, while they went back up the trail to see whether they could help the second victim. The teens told Watanabe that they had heard yelling near the summit, which apparently came from an altercation between the suspect and the second victim.

Watanabe said she knew she was walking closer to the suspect when she and her sister headed up the summit to help the second victim. But she said she wasn't scared. "You just have to do what you have to do," Watanabe said. "I will say, throughout the whole thing, that I was praying, just that everybody would be safe."

Watanabe and her sister heard the second victim screaming for help before they spotted him partway down the slope into the crater.

"He looked like he was in really bad shape," Watanabe said.

Watanabe tried to get to the victim, but couldn't negotiate the steep terrain.

She had 911 dispatchers on the phone and told them they would need a helicopter.

All the while, Watanabe was yelling to the victim, trying to keep him calm.

"He was covered in blood," Watanabe said. "He needed to be reassured."