A man was beaten with a baseball bat on Marshall Street around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday.

Dave Vrooman, an employee at Insomnia Cookies, said he saw two men walk to their car and almost get hit by a truck in the road.

Vrooman said the driver got out of his truck and yelled at the two men. The passenger in the truck remained in the vehicle.

One of the two men walking to the car unlocked the automobile, retrieved a baseball bat and threatened to hit the driver of the truck with the bat, Vrooman said.

The driver of the truck took off his belt, wrapped it around his hand and hit the man holding the bat in the face, Vrooman said. After hitting the man with the belt, the driver of the truck walked away from the area of conflict.

After getting hit in the face, the man with the bat went after the driver of the truck and hit him with the bat, Vrooman said.

While this was happening, the passenger of the truck drove the vehicle about 20 feet down the street. By the time the passenger of the truck got back to the area of conflict, the driver of the truck was already down on the pavement, according to Vrooman.

The two men quickly got into their car. As they were backing out of the parking space, the passenger from the truck kicked out one of the car’s headlights, Vrooman said.

Vrooman said the car was a gray Saab, probably a model from the early ’90s and had a Rhode Island license plate. The truck was a gray Mercury Mountaineer and was probably a newer model. He said he did not see the license plate of the truck.

The two men from the car wore flannel shirts, were about 5 feet, 6 inches tall and looked like they were freshmen in college, Vrooman said.

The driver of the truck was about 6 feet tall and weighed about 200 pounds. He wore a hooded sweatshirt, jeans and looked about 20 or 21 years old, Vrooman said.

Published on January 29, 2006 at 12:00 pm