An Ohio man’s attempt to be a good neighbour blew up in his face after one resident objected to having his sidewalk shoveled – and used a snowblower to show his displeasure.
It happened this past Sunday in the town of Eastlake, Ohio, when Will Immke, 24, decided to clear off some of the sidewalks on his street.
All was going well until he arrived at the home of Larry Myers, 69, one of his neighbours on East Overlook Drive.
What resulted was an ugly and bizarre fight on the snow-covered sidewalks as Myers came out of his home to confront Immke – and told him not to shovel the snow off the sidewalk.
“I said I was clearing the sidewalk so kids could walk on the sidewalk to the school buses. And he said they could walk in the street,” Immke said in an interview with WKYC News in Cleveland.
“And I said ‘Are you stupid?’ And that’s when he grabbed me by my throat and my face and shoved me back.”
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Speaking to multiple news outlets, Myers didn’t deny that a physical confrontation with Immke took place. He said he objected to Immke’s actions and believed the sidewalk in front of his house was his property.
“There’s a three-foot section of sidewalk that’s mine,” Myers said in an interview with WEWS News. “I grabbed him by his coat, and I came very close to giving him a couple of punches in the face but didn’t.”
But it didn’t stop there. A neighbour across the street witnessed the confrontation unfold as Myers then used a snowblower to spray snow on Immke as he was trying to clear the sidewalk.
“Myers was in the driveway with the snowblower, and pushes it directly at him. Not just once or twice, but several times,” said East Overlook Drive resident Fred Verdone.
And once Immke left, neighbours said Myers used a shovel of his own to return the snow to the places Immke had just cleared.
The result is a massive snow “wall” right at the section of sidewalk where Myers’ property begins.
The Eastlake Police posted about the incident on their Facebook page and said a charge of misdemeanor assault is pending against Myers.
For his part, Myers is unrepentant. He said he wanted his driveway left uncleared on purpose, as a statement of protest against city officials he claimed frequently do not shovel their own driveways.
“I’ll be damned if I’m going to clean my sidewalk and bust my rear end to keep my sidewalk clean when we got officials in this city who don’t practice what they preach,” Myers said.
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