A man on a bicycle threatened a landscaper with a metal baseball bat before stealing a leaf blower and batteries, according to charges. Police responded around 4:55 p.m. Sept. 17 to Wacouta and Eighth streets in downtown Saint Paul.

Demetrius Dexter Linton, 38, of South Saint Paul, is charged in Ramsey County District Court with first-degree aggravated robbery, threats of violence, fifth-degree drug possession, carrying a BB gun in a public place and fleeing an officer without a motor vehicle.

The landscaper told police he had placed a hedge trimmer on a retaining wall when a man rode past and pretended to grab it. After an exchange of words, the man pulled a bat from behind his back and approached as the landscaper backed away in fear, the complaint says.