CHOCOWINITY — Chocowinity Town Commissioner Curt Jenkins and his brother have been charged with assault.

Wednesday, at approximately 6 p.m., Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a report of an assault on Hodges Road in Chocowinity.

The victim, a 51-year-old male, told investigators he was assaulted by an undetermined weapon, knocked to the ground by one of his assailants and kicked by the other while he was on the ground, according to a press release from the sheriff’s office. The report was corroborated by another witness.

An investigation pointed at Curt and John Jenkins for the alleged assault.

According to BCSO Chief Deputy Charlie Rose, the assault was prompted by a prior argument on the telephone between the Jenkins brothers’ mother and one of her tenants about a load of dirt that was to be delivered at the residence where the tenant lives. When the brothers arrived with the dirt delivery, another argument ensued — this one escalating to violence, Rose said.

“There was at least a broken jaw and some damage to ribs — either broken or cracked — so it was more than a slap,” Rose said.

According to the warrant, the weapon used in the assault was a bat or a pipe of some sort.

John Aaron Matthew Jenkins, 22, of Grimesland, was charged with one count each of felony assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury and felony assault inflicting serious bodily injury. Curt Jenkins Jr., 29, of Chocowinity, was charged with one count of felony assault inflicting serious bodily injury.

Curt Jenkins, who recently lost a bid for mayor of Chocowinity to incumbent Mayor Jimmy Mobley, was arrested twice in 2016 on assault charges.