Man thrown through bar window suffered minor injuries; woman standing inside required major surgery

A man who came under attack by a group of other men outside West End Johnnies, 138 Portland St., was thrown through a bar window into the bar shortly before 2 a.m. on Jan. 28, a Boston Police detective and the bar's attorney said today.

The man suffered only minor injuries, mainly lacerations to his hands. But a woman inside the bar, standing near the window as she waited for an Uber car to take her home, was showered with shards and need surgery to remove them from her back and leg. One of the shards was six inches long, her attorney told the Boston Licensing Board.

At a hearing today, nobody could say what sparked the fight. The bar's attorney acknowledged the men may have been inside earlier in the evening, but said that by 1:55 a.m., they were all outside. He said a bar bouncer chased after one of the men and somehow managed to get his driver's license; the man later told police he had nothing to do with the fight and that he'd been robbed and his wallet taken.

The man who was thrown through the window at first told police on scene he could identify the guy who committed the act, but later told a detective he could not identify any of the men.

The bar's attorney said he and bar workers are continuing to try to identify any of the men who might have been inside - and to turn over any information to both police and the woman's attorney.