Mississippi Republican charged with attacking landscapers with a shovel after blocking them on road

A Mississippi Republican lawmaker is facing aggravated assault charges after he attacked two landscapers with a shovel following a dispute over the use of a road, reports WMC.

State Senator Chris Massey and his father, Jack Massey, are accused of attacking landscapers Toney Smith and Marcus Lane, when they attempted to get to a job on a road running through a subdivision that the two Masseys are developing.

"He spit in my employee's face and it made him so mad, so he pushed him off him and that's when the old man reached in the truck and got a shovel," the landscaper said. "There's blood on him and there is blood on me, all because I wanted to finish a man's lawn today."

According to the men, the elder Massey threatened to get a gun from his truck during the melee.

"It makes me mad that they would treat him like he is nobody and wouldn't let him come down the street," said the homeowner who was waiting for the men to do work on his yard.

The attack didn't surprised other neighbors in the neighborhood, with one man saying he had gone so far as to make a sign warning about the men.

"Jack was trying to get me to come out in the street and fight with him," said local homeowner Dale Spikes before adding, "He's the Chair of the Ethics committee, and that is very, very, scary."

Watch the video below via WMC-Action News:

WMC Action News 5 - Memphis, Tennessee