MECHANIC FALLS — A Callahan Circle man was in the county jail Thursday, charged with stabbing another man during a fight late Wednesday night.

Androscoggin County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Scott Allen O’Donnell, 50, who lives on Callahan Circle. He was charged with elevated aggravated assault and with a probation violation.

Witness reports said the victim, who had not been identified, was stabbed at least once in the abdomen during the fight outside a home at 14 Callahan Circle, a looped road that runs off Elm Street.

Rescuers treated the victim at the scene before he was taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. He was expected to be released from the hospital Thursday.

A relative of O’Donnell said the man who was stabbed had been threatening the family and the stabbing was an act of self-defense.

A witness said the argument started between two women while one family was having a bonfire in their backyard. It initially involved yelling and profanity shouted back and forth, the witness said.

Sheriff’s deputies responded twice to the home and separated the combatants. After the officers left the area, fighting resumed between and grew to involve more people.

When another neighbor intervened on the spat, two men started brawling, the witness said, rolling around on the ground while throwing punches at one another.

When the two men got to their feet moments later, the witness said, one man, shirtless, had blood running down his side. Another neighbor called for police and rescue crews, which arrived shortly after.

O’Donnell was taken to the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn where he was being held Thursday on $20,000 cash bail pending a court appearance Friday.