INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A 60-year-old woman was jailed after deputies said she and her husband hit a neighbor with a rake and shovel, leaving the man with serious injuries to his face and neck. The incident began with a dispute over the woman raking leaves into the man’s yard, officials said.
The man underwent emergency surgery at a hospital for his injuries, reports show.
Dawn Marie Bragg
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY INDIAN RIVER COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Dawn Marie Bragg, of the 7900 block of U.S. 1, Vero Beach, was charged with aggravated battery great bodily harm. Bragg was released Dec. 23 from the Indian River County Jail on $3,500 bond.
It was unclear if the woman’s husband would also be charged.
The incident happened about 2 p.m. Dec. 21 at the man’s residence. Deputies spoke with the man, who had a deep cut to his left arm and a red bruise on the left side of his neck, officials said.
“He was holding pressure to (his arm) with his hand. Upon removing his hand briefly, the blood sprayed indicating an artery was possibly severed,” a sheriff’s deputy wrote in a report. “I applied a tourniquet to (the man’s) arm.”
The man told deputies he used a leaf blower earlier to blow away leaves from his driveway. The man’s neighbor, Bragg, then began to rake leaves onto his property, reports show.
The man said he told Bragg to stop, but she continued. The man, still standing in his driveway, grabbed the rake handle.
Bragg then took the rake and hit the man in the neck with the blunt end of the handle, reports show. Bragg’s husband ran over and swung a shovel at the man, striking him in the upper left arm, deputies said.
Bragg told deputies the man initially barreled through the bushes and attacked her, reports show.
Deputies arrested Bragg and booked her into the county jail. Bragg has an arraignment at 8:45 a.m. Feb. 16, 2023, court records show.
