A Canyon Country man accused of attempted murder is due back in court next month after pleading not guilty to a charge connected to a Newhall stabbing. 

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Daniel Constantino, 20, was charged in a Sept. 15 attack that sheriff’s deputies believe could be gang-related.

Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station detectives arrested Constantino and are searching for another in the incident.

Detectives are accusing Constantino of being in a dark-colored, late-1990s Chevy Impala that rammed the car once the victim parked his vehicle outside the Canyon Crest apartments in Newhall around 8 p.m. that night.

After Constantino and a friend allegedly  crashed into the victim’s vehicle, Sheriff’s Department officials said, one of the male suspects reportedly confronted the victim at the driver’s side door of the victim’s vehicle.

The victim was then stabbed.

“Whether it was road rage or gang-related, we’re still investigating,” said said Sgt. Dean Currie of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station’s COBRA unit, “mainly because the victim is still recovering.”

Detectives investigated the scene at Newhall Avenue, near the Canyon Crest Apartments and Highway 14.

Constantino was arrested Friday at 3:45 p.m.

The victim is expected to survive the attack.

The severity of the attack is what led detectives to seek an attempted murder charge, Sheriff’s Station officials said after the attack.

“(Assault with a deadly weapon and attempted murder) are very close,” Currie said. “The difference is intent. We’re going to go with attempted murder because of the severity of the injury.”

Constantino is being held without bail at Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles.

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