Guy looking for trouble found it at a South Boston bar, where he smashed a beer bottle into a man's head

A man who tried to break up an argument between his friends and a hulking stranger at Croke Park needed 30 stitches after the guy smashed a beer bottle into the left side of his head, police and the bar's owner told the Boston Licensing Board this morning.

Owner Danny Kelly said the sight of the man, bleeding all over the floor after the Feb. 9 attack at the West Broadway bar, was one of the worst things he's ever seen - and he's seen a thing or two. He said he felt terrible for the victim - who kept trying to apologize for all the blood - and that he briefly even feared for his own life when he confronted the attacker before the guy fled.

According to police, Kelly and the victim himself - who still has a long scar around his left eye - the trouble started after two of the men's friends had been talking to a woman for awhile. Kelly said the three men were quiet, well behaved and well dressed. "They couldn't have been classier guys," he said.

Shortly before 1:20 a.m., the suspect got between the two men and the woman and began angrily addressing them. The victim walked over to try to get his friends away and the suspect up and smashed him with the bottle.

Kelly said he heard the sound of glass hitting head and immediately rushed over and got the suspect away from the victim. "I was screaming at him: 'You're going to jail! Why did you do that?" Kelly said the guy was big and angry. "I thought I was going to have to fight for my life with this guy," he told the board.

Instead, the man fled and Kelly called 911 to summon aid for the man. Kelly said he had never seen the guy before, but that he later learned he'd been "on a rampage" for awhile.

The licensing board decides Thursday whether Croke Park could have done anything to foresee and prevent the attack, and if so, whether to levy any penalties.

The Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports the suspect, Joseph Lee, is currently behind bars. He was released on bail following the Croke Park incident, but had that bail revoked for 60 days when he was arraigned on April 24 on a gun charge out of Roxbury court.

Innocent, etc.