FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Three people were arrested Tuesday in connection with the assault of a Fairhope man whose injuries may have paralyzed him from the neck down, Fairhope Police Department Cpl. Craig Sawyer said.

Sawyer said the victim’s name would not be made public pending notification of family members.

“Especially in cases with severe injuries we make sure not to release the name until we contact the family,” he said. “But we try and give as much information as we can without identifying the person by name.”

Police were called Tuesday morning by a woman who said that four people, including her sister and two brothers-in-law, were assaulting the man she lived with on Twin Beech Road, according to a police department news release.

While police were responding to the call, the woman, 23, told a dispatcher the persons had fled by automobile.

Fairhope police officer Earnest “Bucky” Bishop caught the suspects in a car he stopped near Greeno Road and Gayfer Avenue, the release stated.

Police would also not release the name of the woman who called but did state she was white, and the man, 29, was black. The news release stated they had a child together, and that all four people arrested were white.

The woman told police the assault was in retaliation for a domestic violence incident that occurred between her and the man over the weekend.

Sawyer said the alleged domestic violence incident did not occur in Fairhope, and local police investigators had been unable to determine whether any police report had been filed about it in the county.

After police arrived at the Twin Beech Road residence, the victim was taken by ambulance to Thomas Hospital in Fairhope, where an initial examination revealed a “potentially serious spinal injury,” the news release stated.

He was then moved by helicopter to the University of South Alabama Medical Center in Mobile.

Police at the scene reported the man was unable to move anything below his neck, the news release said.

Sawyer said three of the people arrested were booked on felony assault charges and would be transferred later to county jail in Bay Minette where bond would be set. The fourth person was not booked on assault charges but was transferred to Summerdale on arrest warrants there unrelated to the Fairhope case.

Booked on 1st degree assault charges are: Bobby Ray Stabler, male, 30, of Foley; Kevin Roger Stabler, 28, of Foley; and Tyger Lillian Hicks Stabler, female, 21, of Bon Secour.

No weapons were used in the assault, the news release stated.

First degree assault is a Class B felony with possible punishment of a prison sentence not less than two nor more than 20 years and a maximum fine of $30,000.