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Weed dispute allegedly ends with 71-year-old fighting gardener

Patrick Botelho is facing felony battery charges.

By Evan Bleier
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PORT CHARLOTTE , Fla., Aug. 8 (UPI) -- An elderly Florida man is facing felony battery charges after he allegedly attacked a gardener who wouldn't trim his flower beds.

According to the alleged victim, he was hired to mow the lawn of a Port Charlotte home. While the man was working, Patrick Botelho approached and inquired as to why he was not trimming the weeds from the flower beds.

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When the man responded that wasn't what he was hired to do, the 71-year-old became upset and said that the weeds from the flower beds were invading his property. Botelho then told the man that he had better clean out the weeds.

The man said no, and "Botelho tried to pull him off the mower and then choked him," NBC 2 reported.

Another worker intervened and Botelho went back to his home.

Police were called and Botelho was arrested and taken to the Charlotte County Jail.

"If the man wasn't working for him why did he get violent?" neighbor Jim Howinsky told FOX 4.

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