Clearing mounds of snow this winter is getting people heated. In one suburban Cleveland neighborhood it even led to a shoveling-related scuffle, police and witnesses told NBC affiliate WKYC.
The snow-flying fracas took place Sunday, when an Eastlake man identified as Will Immke volunteered to clear off his elderly neighbor's sidewalk, the station reported. Another neighbor, Larry Myers, was using a snow blower at the same time, and began blowing it in Immke's direction, a witness said.
"Myers was in the driveway with the snow blower, and pushes it directly at him," neighbor Fred Verdone, who photographed the action, told WKYC. "Not just once or twice, but several times."
Immke said he told Myers he was trying to clear the sidewalk for children getting off from the school bus, but Myers allegedly responded that they can walk in the street. Immke asked him, "Are you stupid?"
That apparently set Myers off. Immke claims Myers grabbed his throat and face, then shoved him backwards. But Myers told WKYC he merely grabbed Immke by the collar.
After the physical confrontation, Myers dumped snow back on the sidewalk, which Immke had been clearing off, witnesses said. A misdemeanor charge of assault is now pending against Myers, Eastlake police said Tuesday on Facebook.
Immke's mother, Linda Immke, could only watch in disbelief. "When somebody is trying to do a good deed," she said, "let them do the good deed and mind your own business."