Suspect And Victim Discuss Del City Fight Involving Machete

An argument among friends turned violent in Del City over the weekend, when one man attacked another with a machete. That man is out of the hospital and speaking out on what sparked the fight.

Both men say it was just a big misunderstanding on Saturday that led to a bloody fight when comments were said about each other's kids. But, in an unexpected update, the victim says it was all his fault.

"Two friends got into an argument, and we won't do that again," he said.

Never again will Zane Bottoms cross his friend, after too much alcohol and an argument escalated, and Zane was cut with a machete across his scalp.

"I thought I was going to die, I was scared," Zane said.

Del City Police handcuffed his friend, Jeff Howard, and took him in for questioning. But it wasn't long before Howard, a convicted felon, was back on his front porch eating macaroni and cheese and saying he acted in self-defense.

"He was in my house, he grabbed me by the neck, I told him to quit, he didn't want to listen, so he got the consequences," Howard said.

The consequences were a skull fracture and seven staples in Zane's head.

"If I could own a gun, he would've gotten shot," Howard said. "I didn't want to kill him, but I knew it was gonna hurt."

Hurt is an understatement for Zane, who collapsed in the middle of the street bleeding while neighbors helped him until paramedics arrived.

"It's a feeling you'll never forget, that's for sure," Zane said. "You know it's like hitting your head on a cabinet, the corner of a cabinet, but 100 times worse."

Zane was released from the hospital later that evening. He takes full responsibility for the fight and returned back to the home where he was first injured and apologized.

"I was in the wrong man, you gotta be a man when you're in the wrong," Zane said. "I lost my temper, thank God he was nice enough to go ahead and forgive me."

Zane hopes to get the staples removed from his head this week. He is back to living with Howard and both vow not to drink too much together again.

Neither man plan on filing charges against each other. No arrests were made, but Del City Police says the District Attorney could still decide to press charges.

4/26/2014 Related Story: Police Respond To Machete Attack In Del City