OAKLAND — Councilman Dan Kalb and his former chief of staff were among the Good Samaritans who came to the rescue of a woman stabbed not far from City Hall last week.

At around 5 p.m. on Jan. 2, Kalb was meeting with his former chief of staff Olga Bolotina at Peet’s when he said he heard a commotion outside on Broadway near 16th Street. Police said a 70-year-old man, later identified as Clinton Lucas, stabbed a 54-year-old woman multiple times in an apparent argument over money.

Before police arrived, Kalb said he and Bolotina rushed outside to help after the man began punching the woman. Kalb said he yelled “stop, stop, stop” and he and Bolotina began throwing items at the man to distract him.

“At one point, he turned away from the woman with a knife in his hand and pointed it toward Olga and myself. We took a step back but kept trying to distract him,” said Kalb, who represents North Oakland.

Another man, who has not been identified, then jumped on the assailant and held him on the ground. Bolotina said she helped pull the knife from the man’s hands and threw it away from him. Kalb called 911.

As the councilman and the other man kept the suspect on the ground, someone handed Bolotina a first-aid kit and she began putting pressure on the woman’s stab wounds.

“When I was holding her wounds, she was saying ‘it hurts, it hurts,’ ” said Bolotina. “She was asking me, ‘don’t let me die.’ I tried to calm her down.”

Kalb said the other Good Samaritan vanished after police arrived. He would like to thank him.

“All I could think about was stopping this guy from stabbing this woman,” Kalb said. “Luckily there was other people there thinking the same thing. The young guy that took him down deserves a lot of the credit. I want to thank him for his good work and bravery.”

Olga credited her longtime boss with not hesitating to diffuse the situation. “He’s really amazing in that regard, he just reacts properly, he doesn’t panic,” she said.

Authorities have charged Lucas with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and other charges related to the stabbing. The woman suffered critical injuries and was taken a hospital where she is recovering.

“I’m glad she’s alive. I think she got lucky,” Bolotina said. “If someone did not jump in … she was close to death.”