MAHOPAC, N.Y. (AP) - A shopkeeper at a strip mall got so angry about the way a man parked his car that he punched both the motorist and the car.
Lt. Brian Karst of the Carmel, N.Y., Police Department said the episode began at about 5 p.m. Oct. 16 at a strip mall on a road in Mahopac.
Wasek Safrah, 51, of Ossining, N.Y., felt the car, though legally parked, was blocking his access to a storage container or trash bin and got into a heated argument with the driver, who was an employee of another store and was no longer in the car. Police did not release that man's name.
The police report, issued Tuesday night, said Safrah first punched the side of the vehicle, denting it. Then he took the controls of a forklift in the parking lot, manoeuvred its lifting mechanism under the car and lifted it upward. The car was not moved out of the parking spot, however.
"We don't know what his intention was," Karst said.
After lifting the car, Safrah allegedly punched the driver in the mouth. The victim was injured but not seriously, Karst said.
The car was eventually lowered from the forklift. Karst said he did not know who owned the forklift, but that it probably belonged to another of the businesses in the mall.
Safrah, who was not available for comment, was arrested on charges of criminal mischief and assault. He was released pending an appearance in Carmel Town Court, still to be scheduled.
