A 49-year-old Brunswick man has been charged with elevated aggravated assault after allegedly hitting his 91-year-old father in the head with a baseball bat at the family’s home on Mere Point Road on Friday morning.

The elderly man was taken by Brunswick rescue workers to Maine Medical Center where he is being treated for head injuries.

Police charged Christopher Porter with intentionally causing serious bodily injury using a dangerous weapon. He is being held in Cumberland County Jail on $25,000 bail, pending a Dec. 22 appearance in Cumberland County Unified Criminal Court.

Porter is charged with hitting his father, James E. Porter, multiple times with an aluminum baseball bat.

Police were called to 550 Mere Point Road at 7:32 a.m., where they took the son into custody, said Cmdr. Marc Hagan. He was charged Friday afternoon.

The son was taken to Mid Coast Hospital for evaluation to make sure there were no mental health issues the department needed to be aware of, Hagen said. Christopher Porter has no criminal record, according to the State Bureau of Identification.

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The younger man’s mother – the victim’s wife – made the emergency call.

Hagan said the attack occurred during a family dispute, though he would not elaborate.

The department has no information on the older man’s condition, other than he is being treated at the hospital, Hagen said.

Maine State Police were called in to help process the crime scene. If the elder Porter dies, the case would become a homicide and state police detectives would become the primary investigators. However, a state police spokesman said it appears the father will survive and the case will remain the jurisdiction of Brunswick police.


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