Philip Ray Lester, 61, was booked on an assault charge Tuesday in Fresno, California

Shocking video has emerged showing a homeless man beating another man unconscious in a battle over tent space.

Philip Ray Lester, 61, was identified by police as the assailant and arrested after the street brawl on Tuesday in a quiet residential section of Fresno, California.

Police say that Lester sparked the brawl by going up to an area where another homeless man was encamped and trying to tear down his tent.

The other man confronted him with a metal rod from a bed frame and Lester faced him down with a baseball bat, police say.

Video shot by horrified residents shows the two men squaring off in the middle of the street, near the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Sixth Street.

Lester (left) was armed with a baseball bat in the broad-daylight fight while his opponent menaced him with a metal rod taken from a bed frame

Lester coaxes his nemesis into range before unleashing his counterattack

Lester quickly grabs the other man's weapon and begins to whale on him with the bat, striking his head and sending him to the pavement.

'I saw a man lying on the ground; his head was cut open. There was blood on his head flowing onto the street,' one neighbor told KFSN-TV.

A flood of 911 calls sent police rushing to intervene.

'Before officers arrived we had our police helicopter fly overhead trying to get them to stop and drop their weapons,' Fresno Police Lt. Mark Hudson told the ABC affiliate.

Lester (right) grabs hold of the foe's metal rod and beats him with his baseball bat

Lester swings his bat in triumph after sending his opponent bleeding to the pavement

Police rendered aid to the injured man and arrested Lester.

The injured man was taken Community Regional Medical Center with serious injuries. He's expected to survive but may require surgery.

Lester is being held pending $20,000 bond in the Fresno County Jail on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon. It was unclear whether he had an attorney to speak on his behalf.

According to his Facebook page, Lester was married but his wife left him in 2016.

Lester is being held pending $20,000 bond in the Fresno County Jail on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon

Residents say that the area where the fight occurred has seen an increase in disturbances related to homelessness.

'Unfortunately this is an intersection for homeless people and drug addict,' one neighbor said.

California has the largest homeless population in the country, and saw a 13 per cent spike in homelessness between 2016 and 2017.

As of January 2018, California had an estimated 129,972 experiencing homelessness on any given day, according to government statistics.