THE sight of distraught and sobbing teenage girls, one of them with blood smeared up her leg, puffing on cigarettes greeted Sturt Mall customers following a mid-afternoon stabbing incident yesterday.Police and an ambulance swooped on the Sturt Mall shortly after 3pm amid reports one person had been stabbed and was in urgent need of medical help.As the high school-aged teens wiped away tears and comforted each other with hugs, paramedics were treating an 18-year-old man for a stab wound to his thigh as he screamed in agony from the curb ouside Bredin's Newsagency. Horrified mums and dads out shopping with their kids side-stepped the blood-splattered pavement and police tape in what is the city's second stabbing in two days.Detectives closed off the mall entrance and a large portion of the car park where the alleged perpetrator had fled the scene in a vehicle being driven by another person.But less than an hour later, an ambulance was called to an address on Springvale Drive at Springvale where police were holding the teen accused of the stabbing, who was himself in need of medical treatment.After police arrived at his house, he ran across his yard and dived into the rapidly flowing, swirling water in a drain beside his property, nearly drowning. "He dived into a channel of running floodwaters. The boy appeared to become submerged for a short time but police officers entered the water and brought him to the surface. He was arrested after a brief struggle," said Detective Inspector Rod Smith.The alleged stabber's younger brother stood by as his older sibling sat in the rear of a police wagon and was treated by paramedics.The sight of four police cars and an ambulance on the leafy street drew curious stares from children in passing school buses.Last night, Detective Inspector Smith said the 17-year-old boy was expected to remain at Wagga police for several hours last night assisting detectives with their inquiries.