Man Allegedly Wields Baseball Bat in Lower Broadway Street Fight

Somerville police arrested a Somerville man after a late-night street fight in which he allegedly hit one of the fighters with a baseball bat.

The fight happened outside 182 Broadway, in East Somerville, at around 11:40 p.m. on April 30, according to a Somerville Police Department incident report.

When police arrived on the scene, they encountered about 7 people yelling at each other, the report says.

Witnesses said two members of the group had engaged in a fight, and that at some point a man hit one of the belligerents with a baseball bat before running into a nearby residence, according to the report.

Police found the alleged bat-wielder, Mark McLaughlin, 26, at 184 Broadway, the report says.

McLaughlin told police he did have a bat, but said he hadn't struck anyone with it, according to the report.

Out on the street, the victim told police he had been hit in the back and ribs with the bat, and he showed police areas on his ribcage and back that had red marks, the report says.

According to the report, the victim said he had been walking down the street when he exchanged words with one of the men in the front of the house, and those words turned into a verbal altercation and ultimately a fight.

The other man involved in that fight (who's separate from McLaughlin) told police he and his brother had been sitting on the front steps when the victim and his friends walked by, the report says.

He said the victim harassed him and them made threats and motions with his hands as though he were pulling the slide on a semi-automatic pistol, according to the report. He said a verbal altercation ensued and the victim hit him, at which point the fight broke out, the report says.

Police arrested McLaughlin and charged him with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

Please note that information contained in police reports do not indicate a conviction.