Incensed that his pizza did not include the requested toppings, a Maryland man allegedly assaulted a Papa John’s worker with a metal pizza paddle in an attack that ended with the employee stabbing the customer in the stomach with a “pizza spear,” according to police.

Investigators say that after purchasing a pizza Wednesday evening, Herbert Harris, 40, returned to a Papa John’s in Woodbridge, a community 20 miles outside Baltimore, to “complain that garlic sauce and pepperoncinis were not included with the pizza.”

Harris, cops say, argued about the missing Italian peppers and garlic sauce with Robert Klein, a 26-year-old Papa John’s employee. During the dispute, Harris went behind the counter and “began chasing Klein around the store, physically assaulting him with a metal pizza paddle,” according to the Harford County Sheriff’s Office.

“Unable to escape the physical assault and in fear of his safety,” Klein “grabbed a pizza spear to defend himself from the attack, and stabbed Harris in self-defense,” investigators say. The spear is not further described in a police statement.

When cops arrived at Papa John’s, Harris, who lives two miles from the restaurant, was holding a t-shirt to a stab wound in his stomach. He was subsequently transported to a local hospital for “treatment of non-life-threatening injuries,” cops noted.

Charged with misdemeanor assault, Harris is scheduled for a September 20 District Court appearance.