Portland Police arrested two individuals after an altercation on Sunday that left three officers with injuries that required treatment at Northern Light Mercy Hospital.

The Preble Street altercation comes a week after an incident stemming from a large gathering of 300 people around 9 p.m. July 4 near Oxford and Anderson streets in Kennedy Park in which fireworks were were fired at officers who were in the area investigating gun shots being fired near Greenleaf Street. A 17-year-old male from Portland was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and criminal use of explosives.

Frederick Archer, 21, of Portland, was taken to Cumberland County Jail and charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, two counts of assault on a police officer, assault and refusing to submit to arrest on July 11, when, just before 7:30 p.m., police responded to a disturbance near 25 Preble St. Officers found Archer sitting in a doorway with several open beer cans and a handgun in his waistband, according to a prepared release from the police department. The weapon was confiscated from Archer, who, as a felon, was not allowed to have a gun. He resisted arrest, police said, tried to get the officer’s firearms and, according to police “punched, scratched, kicked and spit in officers’ faces and other parts of their body as he was being restrained and detained.”

Police report that “during this incident, a crowd formed and acted hostile towards officers. A person in the crowd, a 17-year-old male, of Portland, challenged officers to fight and acted aggressively. The suspect threw a metal container at the hood of a police vehicle, causing damage, and shoved an officer. The male was arrested on charges of assault, disorderly conduct, criminal mischief and criminal threatening; he was later released into the custody of a parent.”

Portland Police Chief Frank Clark said the Portland Police Department holds its officers “to high standards and expect them to display professionalism, courtesy and compassion during their interactions with the public. It is not too much to expect the same level of decency in return, so that everyone involved in an interaction goes home safely to their family.”

Force is used by his officers, he said, when someone who is being detained begins to get “resistive, assaultive, or displaying active aggression or life threatening actions towards our officers or members of the public.”

“Our officers are trained to assess these threats, and then react and respond accordingly,” Clark said. “I would expect them to do nothing less. I am asking those hiding in the shadows to cease the random, cowardly and unwarranted violence against our police officers. Portland is better than that.”

If anyone has any information that could assist police in these cases, they are being asked to call the Portland Police Department at 874-8575 or leave an anonymous message at 874-8594 or on the department’s crime tip line by texting “PPDME” plus the message to 847411.