PONDERAY — A civil dispute over property rights in Boundary County came to blows in Bonner County on Tuesday.

The confrontation culminated in one man receiving blunt-force trauma injuries and another man receiving a felony battery charge.

James Harold Wilger was scheduled to make an initial appearance in Bonner County Magistrate Court on Wednesday, although documents from the brief hearing were not immediately available.

Ponderay Police were summoned to the parking lot of Papé Machinery Agriculture & Turf at 1:30 p.m., after receiving a report that a man was attacked with a T-ball bat, according to a probable cause affidavit. The man was reportedly struck multiple times, including once in the back of the head and after he was already on the ground.

Wilger, 69, told police he thought the alleged victim, 63, had followed him to the business. The alleged victim told police Wilger pushed him and punched him, knocking his glasses from his face. Wilger allegedly made for his truck and the alleged victim pursued him to try and stop him because he believed Wilger was going to retrieve a firearm.

Wilger told police he grabbed the bat and struck the alleged victim in the head and followed up with several more blows to the man’s body, actions which Wilger described as self-defense, the affidavit said.

Employees of the business broke up the alleged attack, which they felt would have continued had they not intervened, court records indicate.

The alleged victim sustained blunt-force injuries to his head, upper arm, forearm, back and the side of his leg, according to court documents. Wilger, who has no prior criminal record, was arrested for committing a battery with a deadly weapon resulting in great bodily harm, the affidavit said.

Specifics about the underlying dispute were not contained in court documents.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.