Cabbagetown has had an ongoing problem with graffiti. Early Sunday morning, resident Rodney Bowman took the matter into his own hands.

Bowman perched himself in a tree to catch vandals who had been spray-painting a concrete wall that runs along a set of railroad tracks and borders his neighborhood.

Around 2:20 a.m., they showed up.

Two young men, Joshua Ward, 19 and Jesse Jaeger, 21, started spray-painting the wall when Bowman sprang from the tree and attacked Ward, according to an Atlanta police report.

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"It took me a few seconds to realize what was going on," Jaeger said Wednesday. "This guy just jumps out of a tree. I was like, 'Did that just happen?' We're still telling people about it. It's one of those things that, when you tell people, they don't believe you."

Bowman, 43, walked over to Ward and punched him in the face twice before the young men ran away and called police, the report said.

When an officer arrived, Bowman told him that "he had been watching the area closely" and "jumped out of the tree" to confront the vandals, the report said.

Ward and Jaeger admitted to police that they came to the concrete wall to spray paint, but they said they thought it was legal, the report said.

Jaeger said he and Ward were under the impression the wall -- just a few blocks from the Krog Street tunnel's famed concrete canvas -- was a "free space" where graffiti is allowed.

Jaeger said that, as they starting putting graffiti on the wall, Bowman sprang from the tree that was about 20 feet from them, fell down and walked toward Ward.

"I told you about [expletive] with our wall!" Bowman said, according to the report.

An officer gave Bowman a ticket for disorderly conduct, and Ward and Jaeger were ticketed for defacing a building, the report said.

In front of police officers, Bowman asked the young men what they were doing out there so late at night, Jaeger said.

"You were in a tree at 2:30 in the morning," they replied, according to Jaeger.

Bowman could not be reached for comment.