On August 1, 2020 at approximately 10:30 p.m., city police dispatch received a multitude of 911 calls flooding the lines regarding a neighbourhood brawl which was taking place on a street in a newly built residential area off of Farnham Road. Police also received reports that combatants involved were swinging baseball bats and steel pipes at one another as well as there being a possible stabbing victim.
Within minutes, numerous police units flooded the scene which was described as, “utter chaos”. Two men were observed to be unconscious with serious head injuries lying in the street and another male with a large open wound to his forearm was lying on the grass yard of a home. A fourth younger male was seen staggering around with an obvious broken hand. Hastings-Quinte paramedics were dispatched to the incident location as well as assistance from the Belleville Fire Department medical-trauma unit. Four males involved in the fight were transported to the Belleville General Hospital by Hastings-Quinte paramedics. From what police could gather, the fight started between two different family homes on the street over a loud vehicle and street racing. Police say there were up to 10 to 15 people involved in the altercation. Officers were able to secure a short video clip from a cell phone from another neighbour which helped identify the original instigator striking another man in the head with a trailer hitch bar causing the victim to be rendered unconscious, sustaining a serious head injury.
Officers, identified that man as 33-year-old Matthew McKenna of Belleville. Mr. McKenna was arrested and charged with one count of Assault with a Weapon and one count of Assault Causing Bodily Harm and is scheduled to appear in the Belleville Ontario Court of Justice on September 3, 2020 to answer to his charge.
This investigation is ongoing and other charges may be pending as police seek to identify other suspects and evidence.
