WARWICK — A long-standing dispute involving an automobile escalated into an altercation in a parking lot on Cowesett Road late Friday night in which one man was charged with four counts of assault — three felonies and one misdemeanor, the police said.

John D. Lomba, of 355 Hardig Rd., was sent to the Adult Correctional Institutions in lieu of $1,000 cash bail.

The police said Lomba confronted Joseph and Susan Rocheleau, of Warwick, in the parking lot of the Little Rhody Beagle Club at 821 Cowesett Rd. as the couple were trying to remove the registration plates from a car belonging to Susan Rocheleau’s father.

Lomba allegedly punched Susan Rocheleau, and then got a box cutter out of the car and tried to slash her, the police said.

They said Lomba succeeded in stabbing Joseph Rocheleau, and then tried to run him down with the car that was at the center of the dispute. Lomba’s alleged attacks with the box cutter and the car warranted felony charges, the police said.

The incident had nothing to do with the Little Rhody Beagle Club, the police said. The parking lot happened to be adjacent to the apartment complex where Lomba and Susan Rocheleau’s father both live.

When the police arrived, Lomba tried to drive away in the car but collided with construction equipment parked in the same lot, the police said. The police captured him after a short foot chase.

Joseph and Susan Rocheleau were both treated at Kent County Memorial Hospital, according to the police.