2 Patriots Players Involved in Nightclub Disturbance : NFL: Dykes is in a hospital with an eye injury and Fryar is out on bail after being arrested for carrying a gun without a permit. Fryar says they were assaulted.

New England Patriots wide receiver Hart Lee Dykes was hospitalized today with an eye injury after he and teammate Irving Fryar were assaulted at a nightclub.

Fryar was charged with carrying a gun without a permit, a felony.

Police responded to a report about a large disturbance outside the Club Shalimar in Providence around 1:20 a.m., Lt. Steven Hall said.

Fryar told police that Dykes was set upon “by an individual or individuals” at the club. Fryar said he went to Dykes’ aid, “at which time he was wounded in the head,” Detective Maj. Milton Wilson said.

“They were both struck in the head with something,” he said.

Fryar told police that he broke away from the scuffle and “being in fear of serious injury, ran to his car, got a gun, put it in his boot, and returned,” Hall said.

Reading from a police report on the incident, Hall said “numerous witnesses” told investigators that Fryar “came running back with a chrome-plated gun in his hand and was brandishing it.”

Fryar entered no plea at his District Court arraignment. Judge Gilbert Indeglia released him on $10,000 personal recognizance.

“He does have a Massachusetts permit,” Capt. Bernard Gannon said. “However, it is not valid under certain conditions.”

The Patriots said they will conduct their own investigation into the incident.

“We want a fair conclusion,” spokeswoman Nadine Jackson said from the team’s Foxboro, Mass., office. “We don’t want anything to be misconstrued.”

She said the Patriots will have no further comment pending the investigation’s outcome.

Dykes was taken by ambulance to Rhode Island Hospital, where he was admitted with a facial wound.

“His eye is swollen,” said Dykes’ doctor, ophthalmologist Robert Bahr.

“Permanent damage or lack thereof remains to be seen,” hospital spokesman Rick Peister said. He said Dykes was in satisfactory condition, and will be held overnight.