Parking Spot at Center of Neighbor's Beating

Family has been warring for years

By VINCE LATTANZIO

Updated 10:38 PM EST, Tue, Mar 10, 2009

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A parking spot was at the center of a fight that landed an elderly Upper Darby man in HUP for the night.

George Mirzayan, 74, and his sister Victoria got into a shouting match with his neighbor Amir Sheikh, 23, in the middle of Kent Road Monday afternoon, police said.

That argument eventually led to fisticuffs leaving Mirzayan with fractures to his face. Sheikh was arrested and charged with simple and aggravated assault.

Mirzayan, who was released from the hospital Tuesday, said he's glad to be alive.

George Mirzayan, 74, was battered and bruised a day after getting into a fight with his neighbor over a parking spot.

Amir Sheikh, 23, has been charged with aggravated and simple assault.

"Well, thank God, I'm still living. It's very good. He tried to kill me but he couldn't. He was evil to us," said Mirzayan.

Sheikh's brother offered another side of the story saying the elderly man started the fight.

"He got in my brother's face and he was like 'You look like a pimp' and then he push my brother," Salman Sheikh said Monday.

Sheikh's attorney described the incident as just a minor fight.

"It was just a minor feud over a parking lot and ah, parking a car. And it turned out to be a big stress for him. And ah, hopefully we will manage this," Ejaz Sabir said.

The families have been fighting for years -- sometimes over parking spots, other times over nothing, said neighbors. Victoria Mirzayan believes differing religious views caused the rift.

"We're Christians and they're Muslims and they don't believe in Christianity," Mirzayan told NBC10's Byron Scott Monday.

Sheikh posted $50,000 bail Tuesday. He has been ordered to stay five miles away from Mirzayan, effectively barring him from his home until his next court appearance.