PORTLAND — Police are investigating a brawl that erupted at the intersection of Portland, Oxford and Alder streets and sent four people to the hospital, some of them with non-life threatening stab wounds.

Police said they were called to the area about 12:30 p.m. for a report of a large fight.

Witnesses said three men get out of a car and start fighting with two men who were walking in the area. One of the men in the car pulled out what appeared to be a baseball bat and hit one of the other men repeatedly in the head, said David Perkins, pastor at a local church.

One of the men who had been walking pulled out a knife and stabbed one man in the back and another in the neck, said Edgar Gatto, who was operating a nearby second-hand shop.

Police pulled up and loudly ordered everyone down to the ground, witnesses said, although some combatants had already fallen to the pavement.

Another man, Ray Paquette, said he saw an officer return to the scene with what appeared to be a recovered knife in a plastic bag.

Bob Marcoux, who was helping renovate a nearby building, said he had seen one of the men in the car and one of the pedestrians arguing about two hours earlier. When one of them returned in the silver Chrysler sedan, which was driven by a woman, the man who had the earlier confrontation was wearing no shirt and shorts, he said.

On the sidewalk where the fight broke out, there were splatters of blood and debris from the rescue workers, including gauze, blue latex gloves and towels. Police used spray paint to mark where different pieces of evidence were recovered.

Nobody had been charged late Monday.

Staff Writer David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or at:
dhench@pressherald.com