Man stabbed in the lip with a table knife at Back Bay bar

A man who had just sat down for dinner at the Pour House on Boylston Street got stabbed in the lower lip when he rose to defend his friend from a guy who'd grabbed a knife off another table and lunged at them in February, the man and police told the Boston Licensing Board today.

Police and the victim described the odd events that led up to the lip lancing around 1:45 a.m. on Feb. 27:

The victim and his friend had ordered some food in advance, got their food and found a table to sit at. The victim then went to the men's room - as another guy sat in his seat and began trying to chat with the friend. But the friend told him he was sitting in somebody else's seat. When the impending victim returned, the guy apologized, grabbed his coat and got up.

And then, about five minutes later, the guy returned, this time with a stainless steel knife in his hand. He lunged at the friend, but missed. The other man stood to defend his friend and received "a large laceration to his lower lip," police say.

The victim charged at his attacker and says he knocked the guy about six feet back, into about a dozen people at the bar, all with drinks, most of which then got spilled on the attacker's clothes - which would explain why, when police found him not long after, his clothes reeked of alcohol.

Then, police and the victim say, the guy ran out - with the victim, the bar manager and another bar worker in hot pursuit. But the guy had disappeared.

Only he hadn't, police say - he simply popped back up and was down by Hereford, just standing there. That made him easy for the police officers waved down by the bar manager to find and arrest him - on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and assault with dangerous weapon.

The victim praised the Pour House manager and staffers for helping him. A Pour House manager said that until the attack the guy had seemed "very happy and very talkative" and did not seem at all under the influence.

The victim said he had absolutely no warning the guy would attack him and his friend. "He just seemed like a very odd person."

The licensing board decides Thursday whether the bar could have done anything to prevent the attack and, if so, whether it warrants any sort of punishment.