Man allegedly hits Somerville woman with weed whacker

SOMERVILLE, Mass. (WHDH) -- A landscaper allegedly attacked a Somerville woman in her backyard with a weed whacker, leaving her arms covered with wounds.

Police said the Somerville woman was assaulted after asking the landscaper to back away from her garden Sunday afternoon.

“They asked him to move over there for the moment because there was stuff flying up and hitting them, and he kind of flipped out on them and got really mad,” said Trevor, the woman’s brother-in-law.

Trevor was home with family and friends when 50-year old Robert Tiernan was working on a neighbor’s yard.

He says his sister-in-law argued with Tiernan because the woman and her family were getting pelted with rocks and dirt from the weed whacker.

Then Trevor’s brother joined the argument. The victims say that's when Tiernan lifted the weed-whacker over the four-foot fence and swung it at them as the string was still whipping around.

“My brother’s wife reached over and knocked it out of the way. And when she went to do this, he got her here…so she went over there -- she was really hurt,” Trevor said.

The cuts cover her entire forearm. She was taken to the hospital, and got a handful of stitches.

Tiernan told police his foot got caught in the fence, and the weed whacker accidentally hit her.

“He walked away, we're saying, you're not going to run away from this. We don’t want to fight you, we want the cops to arrest you. But you're not gonna walk away’” Trevor said.

Tiernan was confronted by Trevor’s brother and a few friends -- they first threw a beer bottle at him, then cornered him on a neighbors porch.

“He got hit in the head a couple times and eventually the cops showed up,” Trevor said.

Tiernan is facing charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

Police are looking into whether they will pursue charges against the three men who retaliated against the landscaper.