Man sleeping under the Longfellow awakened by somebody beating him bloody with a machete, DA says

A Level 3 sex offender with a record that includes other violent crimes was arrested last week on charges he pummeled another man in the head badly enough on May 23 that passing motorists called 911 about a person covered in blood, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Charles Selph, 62, of Boston, was ordered held in lieu of $1,000 bail at his arraignment last week in Boston Municipal Court on a charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, the DA's office says.

According to the DA's office:

At about 10:15 pm on May 23, Massachusetts State Police troopers responded to a call for a person covered in blood on Storrow Drive under the Longfellow Bridge. Troopers found a 54-year-old man bleeding from several lacerations on the top of his head. The victim told police he had been attacked while sleeping under the bridge and had run onto Storrow Drive, where motorists stopped and assisted him. The victim provided troopers a description of his attacker.

Boston EMS transported the victim to Massachusetts General Hospital for treatment.

A motorist’s cell phone video provided to troopers showed the victim pointing to a man under the Longfellow Bridge. The man appears to be holding a long object in his hand. Troopers also obtained video from the Charles/MGH MBTA station showing a similarly-clothed man holding a long metal object just prior to the reported time of the attack. A trooper recognized the man in the video as Charles Selph.

Troopers searched the area and found a machete matching the one in the motorist's video in a grassy area near the bridge, the DA's office says, adding they also found a medical bracelet and prescription bottle with Selph's name on them.

Selph, who was convicted of aggravated rape in 1989, has a record that also includes convictions for assault with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery on a police officer, sexual assault and failure to register as a sex offender, the DA's office says, adding that in May, 2023, he was sentenced to nine months in the Suffolk County jail for assault and battery.

Innocent, etc.