An altercation near the SPiN Cafe in Oak Harbor led to a stabbing Thursday, according to a report by the Oak Harbor Police Department.

The injury was non-life-threatening, but the victim was transported to the hospital.

The report states that the suspect, 53-year-old James Matlock, a homeless person, stood up for his girlfriend after several men were rude to her outside the facility, which is located on Southwest Barlow Street. The SPiN Cafe offers food and services to people in need.

Witnesses told a police officer that the woman approached a group of people at a table to offer them food. The men, however, told her to leave, accused her of having lice and said they didn’t want her around, the report sates.

In response, Matlock instigated an altercation, the officer wrote. When one of the men got into Matlock’s face, Matlock pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the upper arm, close to the shoulder, the report states.

Even after the stabbing, the two men “stayed in each other’s faces, yelling and screaming” until an officer arrived and separated them, the officer wrote.

Officers who responded to the scene applied a tourniquet to the man’s arm because the large gash was bleeding profusely. An ambulance arrived and transported him to the hospital.

Police arrested Matlock on suspicion of assault in the second degree.

Michele Hines, executive director of SPiN Cafe, said Matlock had been suspended from the facility following another knife-related incident early this year, but he was allowed to come back. He has now been permanently “trespassed” from the facility. In addition, SPiN is putting up security cameras soon, she said.

Hines said she was thankful for the quick response from police as well as the professional way in which her staff handled the situation.

“They were calm. They were collected,” she said.

The case is the third time this year that Matlock was charged with assault.

In January, Matlock was arrested for stealing a pickup that was parked on Southwest Barlow Street. After the police arrested him, Matlock was released from jail and went to the SPiN Cafe. While he was sitting on a bench outside, the owner of the truck attacked him, hitting him on the arm. Matlock pulled out a knife and cut the other man on the hand, causing the man to run away.

Prosecutors originally charged Matlock in Island County Superior Court with theft of a motor vehicle and assault, but Matlock pleaded guilty to just the car theft charge on Oct. 3. He was sentenced to three months in jail.

In another case, he was convicted of assaulting his girlfriend, who was the same woman he allegedly defended this week.

According to a report by a deputy with the Island County Sheriff’s Office, Matlock assaulted the woman while she was sleeping in a tent at Rhododendron Park in Central Whidbey. He punched her, put her hand over her mouth so she couldn’t breathe and threatened to kill her, the report states.

Prosecutors originally charged Matlock with felony assault, but he pleaded guilty to assault in the fourth degree in October.