BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com) -- It's a story you've heard, but hasn't really been told until now: The stabbing of two Boston park rangers on the Common.
One of the men who tried, but failed, to dodge the blade of an out of control man spoke exclusively with FOX 25's Bob Ward Tuesday night.
James Lunnin, 25, told Ward that he felt "pretty lucky" after the attack.
"I'm lucky I'm small, agile. I'm quick," he said. "I was able to do my best to distance myself from the attack."
Boston Park Ranger James Lunnin spoke to Ward exactly one week after he and his supervisor, Al Hurd, were stabbed in a brutal attack on Boston Common near the soldiers and sailors monument.
Bodio Hutchinson, a 34-year-old homeless man with a history of violence was arrested.
James Lunnin was stabbed five times. His stitches just came out Tuesday.
Lunnin said he feels "a little sore, still stiff just moving around. But other than that, I'm doing better than I should be doing."
Lunnin tells Ward that it all started when a person in Boston Common told him about a man near the monument with a knife.
At the monument, Lunnin and his supervisor saw Hutchinson smoking. They asked Hutchinson to extinguish his cigarette, and he did.
Then, Hurd asked him about a knife.
"We informed him, 'Hey, you match a description of an individual with a knife. Do you have anything on you? We need to know, pretty much.' He said, 'No why would I?'"
Lunnin said Hutchinson tried to leave, but dropped his IDs on the ground. That moment is when Lunnin said Hutchinson drew the knife.
"He's swearing, 'Let's go. Hit me, hit me, now let's go.' Stuff like that."
Lunnin said his supervisor used pepper spray to stop Hutchinson.
Lunnin said he watched him wipe his face, and he was still holding a knife in his hand, like the spray had no effect on him. Lunnin and Hurd ordered Hutchinson to drop the knife.
Instead, Lunnin said, Hutchinson lunged at Hurd, stabbing him in the abdomen. Lunnin reached for the only other weapon he had.
"I had my baton in my hand, took a step back, swung at him once. I hit him once. He kept coming forward. Went to take another step back. Hit him again. At that time, he blocked it with left arm, I believe. I lost my balance. I was backing up swinging at the same time it didn't really work out for me," he said.
Cell phone video shows what happened next: Lunnin on the ground trying to roll away, then getting stabbed.
"I could feel the warmth. From the blood. Not from the arm, but from the ribs was where I could feel the warmth sliding down my side," he said. "I knew I was stabbed at least one time. I knew that right away."
With both men down, the attack ended in a way Lunnin never expected.
"The suspect pretty much sat down where we had initial contact with him at the beginning. Sat down had a cigarette. Decided to smoke another cigarette," he said.
Help arrived when people at the scene ripped their own shirts from their backs to make tourniquets for the two injured park rangers. One of them, a man Lunnin arrested for assaulting him in the Common back in August, helped to save the ranger's life.
James Lunnin is home now, but his supervisor, Al Hurd, remains hospitalized.
Looking back on it, Lunnin said he would do it all again.
"I'm glad it was me and him, versus someone, a tourist, coming to check out the monument, check out the common. And he didn't like them, take to them too well. I'm glad it was us."