SCRANTON, Pa. — One day after a dispute over shoveling snow ended in a double murder-suicide in Luzerne County, another fight broke out in Scranton.
This time no one was hurt.
While digging out from nearly a foot and a half of snow in North Scranton, police said two people on Wood Street got into a fight.
Officers said one man thought another man was shoveling snow onto his car.
"The gentleman that was shoveling ended up pulling a knife out, which actually escalated to the other gentleman going to his car and getting a baseball bat," Chief Leonard Namiotka said.
Police were able to calm both men quickly.
"The officer there started calmly talking to the people involved, separating the two, hopefully, there's more officers, start calming everyone down and then they can just start rationalizing things," Chief Namiotka said.
Scranton police said fights like this don't break out every storm, but when we get a lot of snow and there are not many places to put it, people tend to have shorter fuses.
"It's crazy! It's snow. For God's sake, it's a parking spot. I love my parking spot, but I'm not willing to let somebody grab a gun and shoot me with it or have something happen to one of my neighbors," Wendy Ratchford of Scranton said.
"Especially in this time when we have all of this around, the pandemic and all of that, we have to be united," Jose Morales said.
"Just help one another out. Be a friendly neighbor, and instead of complaining and arguing over shoveling spots etc., just be human and be generous and help other people out," Joshua Manuel added.
With the potential for more snow in the forecast this weekend, Scranton police remind people to keep calm and help one another.