A physical altercation involving Miami City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff outside his Coconut Grove home Saturday evening attracted onlookers and about a half dozen city patrol cars, but so far, no arrests or charges.

Though the actual details are fuzzy, according to police and Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado, the incident involved Sarnoff campaign signs and a can of black spray paint.

Sarnoff is in a heated race to retain his commission seat for a third term. The election is Tuesday.

Regalado and Miami Police Detective Willie Moreno said police were trying to sort through conflicting accounts of the altercation.

"We’re trying to interview whoever might have seen something," said Moreno.

Regalado, who said Police Chief Manuel Orosa notified him of the situation, said police would probably take the conflicting reports and whatever evidence they have gathered to the state attorney on Monday.

Reid Welch, 57, said that in August he began to remove what he considered illegally placed Sarnoff campaign signs.

Welch has been riding around Coconut Grove on a bike with a long stick removing metal Sarnoff election signs.

He went to Sarnoff’s home on Saturday. First he removed two signs from the commissioner’s lawn through a fence using his stick. He captured his exploits on video.

He said he then went to spray-paint another sign screwed to a wall around Sarnoff’s home. That’s when a Sarnoff neighbor, an elderly woman, confronted him. “She told me that I couldn’t do that; I told her I could,” Welch said.

Before long, he said, Sarnoff ran outside and tackled him to the ground with no warning. Welch said he spray-painted the commissioner in defense. Sarnoff said he confronted Welch after being spray-painted.

"I’m the victim of an assault by a man who is considered unstable and at times dangerous,” he said in a statement. “Unfortunately we have all seen the ugliness and danger when public servants are attacked. I am honored to be a public servant, but will always protect my family and friends when faced with the threat of danger.”

Welch admits he has been hounding Sarnoff for years, sparked by the commissioner’s refusal to help him with legal problems stemming from a crack cocaine arrest three years ago and what he calls abuse from Miami police. “He told me he couldn’t help me,” Welch said. “I have a sorry life now.”

Welch has compiled about a dozen YouTube videos blasting Sarnoff, most recently for allegedly placing illegal signs on rights of way. In one video he rides his bike around collecting them.

In another video he angrily confronts a woman walking a dog near the commissioner’s home.

Welch called a Herald reporter a few weeks ago complaining of an incident in which he said Sarnoff had police put a gun to his head and stuck him in the back of a patrol car, before he kicked out a window. Police said they had no record of such an incident.

Welch, who said he plans to press charges against Sarnoff, also admitted Sunday that he inhales propane to get high, something noted in a New Times story earlier this year.

Miami Herald Staff Writer Luisa Yanez contributed to this report.