Wisconsin teen describes moment Nicolae Miu, 54, attacked his group with a knife and stabbed five after they harassed him and called him a ‘pedophile’ during horror tubing outing in 2022

A teen who saw his best friend stabbed in Wisconsin‘S Apple River has described the moment the alleged attacker attacked them.

Owen Peloquin, 19, testified in court on Monday in the second week of the trial, describing the second engineer Nicolae Miu, 54, who attacked the group with a knife after they harassed him and called him a “pedophile” .

“He strangely sprinted towards us, which made us all feel super uncomfortable,” Peloquin said before cellphone video of the 2022 encounter was shown in court.

Peloquin was heard saying in the video, “Yo, get out,” but he said Miu didn’t listen and instead grabbed their water tubes.

Miu, from Prior Lake, Minnesota, claimed he stabbed them in “self-defense” after the group of goons claimed he was “looking for little girls” on July 30, 2022.

He was charged with first-degree intentional homicide after 17-year-old Isaac Shuman died and four others were injured. He was charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide for their injuries.

During his testimony, Peloquin said he regretted calling Miu a “pedophile” and wished he and his friends would behave differently that day.

When Shuman was attacked by Miu, Peloquin said he did not see him being stabbed, but rushed to his side and brought him to shore along with his other friend Alex.

“I tried my hardest to stop the bleeding,” Peloquin said, becoming visibly emotional.

Schuman was then taken in an ambulance to Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater, where he was pronounced dead.

As testimony continued, Mui’s attorney, Corey Chirafisi, showed photos of the incident and questioned Peloquin’s responses.

With his mouth wide open as he stood in the river, the teenager said he was in “pure shock” when he saw the knife in Miu’s hand.

Afterwards, photos showed him stepping forward when a prosecutor asked him what he was doing. Peloquin said he reached out to grab Ryan Nelson, another friend of his who was in the group.

Chirafisi asked the teen, “Do you think your actions out there with the rest of your friends provoke him?”

“You might consider that, yes,” Peloquin replied.

Chirafisi has maintained that his client was provoked by the group on the day of the attack.

Chirafisi said the group recorded Mui on their phones when they decided to leave him alone.

While questioning Peloquin about the timing of the attack, Chirafisi said, “You wanted to see it end because it was on tape, right?”

“Jawahn Cockfield videotaped this whole thing, didn’t he? You wanted to see how this bond played out.”

Cockfield was another teenager who was with the group at the lake that day.

Ryhley Mattinson, AJ, Martin, Dante Carlson and Tony Carlson were the four other teens stabbed that day.

In addition to Peloquin, others testified in court Monday morning, including Dr. Brian Myer who treated the four surviving teens at Region Hospital.

He said Mattinson had to undergo emergency surgery and when she arrived her blood alcohol level was 0.09.

While treating her injuries, Myer was told that Martin was flown to hospital and his heart stopped several times along the way.

Martin also required emergency surgery and follow-up procedures. His blood alcohol level was not measured at the time, Myer said.

Carlson suffered penetrating trauma from his stabbing and had to have a hernia repaired, Myer said. His blood alcohol level was 0.09.

During the first week of the trial, on April 1, the court reviewed a video that captured the intense moments leading up to and during the stabbing.

Miu was seen aggressively approaching the tubers, including the person recording, as they harassed and laughed at him – telling him to ‘walk away’.

Then a woman approached Miu and ordered him away from the group, while one of the boys shouted ‘he was looking for little girls.’

The video then showed the group repeatedly pushing Miu into the water and hitting him as he rushed to get up.

Members of the group then started shouting: ‘Did he hit a woman?’

The woman clutched her side in shock as blood began to flow and it became clear she had been stabbed.

Video then showed the chilling moment another member of the group stumbled into the river as a pool of red water formed around him.

Chaos ensued as the group quickly dispersed. The cameraman shouted ‘this isn’t real’ as there was more blood in the water.

The disturbing images then suddenly disappeared.

Miu’s wife Sondra told investigators that the violent altercation began after Miu, whose group was further up the river, returned to find a “phone that was lost” while wearing snorkeling gear.

As he watched, Sondra said a “group of guys got out of their tubes and started hitting him.”

The group apparently accused Miu of “looking for little girls” and being a “child molester” after he snorkeled between two groups on each side of the river looking for the phone, according to a video viewed by the St. Croix DA’s Office. in Wisconsin.

The 20-somethings approached Miu after seeing him talking to a group of teenagers who looked “uncomfortable” as he reportedly asked about the number of “young girls.”

Miu originally told police he removed the knife from tubers and fought in “self-defense,” but Sondra claimed the weapon was strapped to his belt.

The Public Prosecution Service said there was “so much blood in the river that the water took on a red tint in some places.”

During an interview, Miu told him he was “walking away” from the group and said Schuman’s group “produced two weapons.”

He claimed the group mocked him after he asked them if they had seen his friend’s phone and that one of the boys tried to “pull his suitcase down,” according to the complaint.

Miu said he saw that “the boy had a knife” and that someone else had a “longer knife” that looked like a kitchen knife.

The engineer said that during the altercation he “jabbed” the boy’s knife after twisting his arm. He claimed that “they attacked me” and that he was “in self-defense mode.”

He pleaded not guilty to the charges in September 2022 and his lawyers have argued the man stabbed the teens in self-defense.