By Mark LaFlamme,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – A man who was stabbed during a street fight Friday denied having been knifed as he walked away bleeding from the scene of the attack.

Police said 24-year-old Samuel Elias Rodriguez of Cambridge, Mass., was stabbed three times during a brawl at Birch and Bates streets involving a half dozen men with stick and knives.

When police and rescue crews arrived at the crowded corner, they found several of the combatants rushing away. A short distance from the corner, police found Rodriguez walking toward an apartment on Knox Street.

“When the officers approached him, he said he was all set,” said police Lt. Don Mailhot. “But by the time he got down to where he’s been staying, he was bleeding profusely from stab wounds.”

Police said Rodriguez had been stabbed in the arm and waist during the downtown clash at about 12:30 p.m. No arrests were made as an investigation got under way. Police described Rodriguez as uncooperative with investigators.

“He didn’t want to provide us with any information,” Mailhot said.

Rodriguez was taken to Central Maine Medical Center where he was listed in stable condition. He was expected to remain at the hospital overnight.

It was not immediately known what led to the brawl near Vicki’s Variety at Bates and Birch streets. Police responded to several fights Friday afternoon, many of them domestic arguments, as hordes of people hung around outside in 70 degree weather.

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