Dorchester restaurant says it didn't report stabbing because somebody threatened owner

Boston Police learned somebody had been stabbed four times outside the Saigon Seafood Restaurant on Adams Street in January only when Boston Medical Center called to report the victim had walked into the emergency room.

Restaurant attorney Hang Nina Nguyen told the Boston Licensing Board this morning one of the owners had gotten out her cell phone and was in the process of dialing police around 11:30 p.m. on Jan. 8 when somebody in the brawling mass of people at the front of the restaurant ordered her to put the phone down, telling her "you cannot call the police or there's going to be some problems for the restaurant."

Scared, she fled to the back at the end of what had been a peaceful party of about 70 people that night.

Boston Police Lt. Eric Eversley told the board police have made no arrests in the incident; restaurant workers and a resident who happened to be there that night told the board they did not realize there was even serious trouble, that at most it appeared to be two young guys fighting, in a dust-up that lasted only a few seconds.

Board Chairman Daniel Pokaski admonished the restaurant for not immediately calling police, even under threat: "You knew there was a serious injury, the police should have been called."

But noting the restaurant's clean record up to the incident, he added, "you don't have a problem here, we're not going to close you down."