Early Morning Stabbing Sends One Man to Rhode Island Hospital.

NEWPORT, RI -- A man was stabbed eight times early this morning during a fight at Festival Field Apartments. He was evaluated at Newport Hospital and transferred to Rhode Island Hospital.

Alexander Arcila, 26, of Pawtucket, was charged with a felony assault with a dangerous weapon connected to the stabbing, police said. According to witnesses, he stabbed the victim eight times during a fight.

Police also arrested Andre Dupree, 25. Dupree was charged with disorderly fighting.

According to the police report, shortly after midnight, officers responded to the apartment complex for a report of a stabbing. They found a group of males who stated someone had stabbed their friend, who was holding his chest and bleeding from the right arm when officers arrived.

Initially, police were told a car with four males inside had pulled up. One male jumped out of the car, screamed an obscenity and stabbed the victim.

But later, police discovered two other males had been involved in a fight inside the apartment complex and had suffered minor injuries. Dupree, who was later charged with the misdemeanor, was one of these men. A friend took him to a house in Middletown, so one could clean up and change his clothes before being seen by staff at Newport Hospital.

A witness said the victim hit Arcila in the head with a beer bottle. Dupree joined the fight in an attempt to help Arcila.

No charges have been filed against the victim, "as yet," police said.

During the investigation, officers followed a blood trail that led them to one of the Festival Field apartments. The occupant gave them permission to search the apartment, where police found evidence.