OTTAWA - A woman who was with the man stabbed to death outside a Hawkesbury bar says a bouncer broke the bar’s rules by forcing them out to the street.

Nathalie Paquette told the Sun Monday that she was with Danny Trineer at Deja Vu Cafe Bar on Hawkesbury’s Main St. when a female friend and another woman’s argument erupted into a physical altercation.

Trineer, a former bouncer at the bar, followed his instincts by intervening and trying to separate the women.

Paquette said bouncers dragged the other woman out of the bar kicking and screaming. She had hoped then that staff would allow the situation to defuse by keeping the groups separated.

In fact, Deja Vu owner Tony Tsourounakis said he didn’t know why Trineer and his friends left so soon — especially as bar rules state that the groups should’ve remained separated.

That’s why Paquette’s so shocked by what happened next.

“(The bouncer) told me we had to leave ... He repeated it three times and made sure to escort us out,” she said. “He said that it’s protocol that we had to leave. I’m not saying (staying safely inside) would’ve changed everything that happened, but it could have.”

Tsourounakis replied that while he wasn’t in the bar at the time, he doesn’t believe Trineer was told to leave. He isn’t sure if Trineer’s female friend was ejected from the bar moments after the incident, but said he intends to speak with staff to find out exactly what happened.

Rodny Wiss Cesar, 26, has been charged with first-degree murder.

scott.taylor@sunmedia.ca