I'm extrapolating a bit from the article, but it sounds like he was walking past the frat house on the street when Gutzeit left the house approached him on the

I'm extrapolating a bit from the article, but it sounds like he was walking past the frat house on the street when Gutzeit left the house approached him on the street and attacked him. If you are minding your own business walking down the street and someone approaches you to physically attack you, especially with 10-20 fraternity brother behind them ready to jump in, it doesn't seem unreasonable to me to use a knife in self defense. That is a life threatening situation, or at least a risk of grievous bodily harm situation. The fact that he wasn't indicted makes it hard for me to believe the situation occurred otherwise. It seems to me like the Ny Mag article may have significantly misrepresented the event.