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Elderly Man Beat Up Over Lawn Mower

Updated: Monday, February 18 2013, 08:45 AM EST

GAHANNA -- Columbus Police are investigating a violent "thank you".

An elderly man said he was beaten up while trying to give another man his lawn mower back.  His son found it in a garage he started renting.  They loaded it up and took it over to this man's house.

"We was just trying to do a good deed," said Michael Helman.  "That was all we was trying to do."

Helman said the other man, identified as Mark Sherrod in police records, became angry when Helman's son asked him to sign a piece of paper verifying the lawn mower had been dropped off.

"When I turned around he started punching me," Helman said.  "I'd say he has some type of boxing experience because he was hopping around like Muhammad Ali."

Helman said he has a dislocated jaw, a concussion and bleeding on his brain from the scuffle.

So far no charges have been filed.  Helman is frustrated the wheels of justice aren't churning faster.

"I don't want him to do this to another old man like me," he said.  "It's just wrong."

The prosecutor's office is weighing whether to file charges.  It's being handled as a misdemeanor assault case.