An oil company employee tried to disable the fuel pumps during a dispute over payment, leading to a tug-of-war that ended with him facing misdemeanor battery charges.

The incident happened Monday at The Triangle on Louisiana Highway 1 in Oil City.

Caddo Parish sheriff's deputies said Thomas Crump Jr., an employee of a Haynesville oil company, got into a dispute with the store's manager after he went there to get the payment for a fuel shipment and was told she wasn't authorized to write him a check.

Store manager Colleen McKenzie said the owner was the only person who could do that, deputies said.

Crump then tried to disable the fuel pumps by removing the belts that help operate them, deputies said. Both got hold of the belts and McKenzie wound up being pulled around the parking lot, deputies said.

The store owner arrived during the dispute and told Crump he would pay for the fuel "when he could," deputies said.

Crump was issued a summons to come to court to answer simple battery charges. He was not arrested.