PORTLAND — Portland police have charged an 18-year-old with attacking two restaurant workers as they walked to a car in the Old Port Tuesday night.

Police charged Mohamud Abdullahi with two counts of assault for allegedly punching a male restaurant worker who was walking two female coworkers to their car at about 10 p.m. and then hitting one of the women.

Police say Abdullahi was with a group of other young men in a car near the Vignola Restaurant at 10 Dana St. The group started making derogatory comments and one of them said he wanted to fight.

Abdullahi took a swing at the worker but missed and the worker head-butted him in the face, cutting his own forehead but also cutting Abdullahi’s lip, police said. The suspect also hit one of the women in the back of the neck.

Abdullahi left as the trio retreated to the restaurant, then he returned and vandalized cars, police said. He was also charged with criminal mischief.

An officer stopped a silver Toyota matching the description of the car involved, and found that one of the passengers, Abdullahi, had a cut lip and matched the description of the attacker, police said.

Police are investigating to determine whether he or any of the other occupants in the car are responsible for an assault at about the same time on a 63-year-old man who was walking on nearby Union Street. The man was confronted by a group of young men in a light-colored sedan then was hit in the back of the neck by one of them.