What Happened After Woman ‘Bumped’ Car – Twice – in Parking Lot

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A customer at a West Des Moines Target store reportedly watched a man kick another shopper’s car and let the air out the tires earlier this month after an altercation in the parking lot.

The witness reported the incident to store security, who met the 70-year-old victim at her car to tell her what had happened.

She had a suspect, and the parking lot surveillance camera confirmed that it was a man she’d argued with over the way she parked her vehicle earlier, according to a report on file at the West Des Moines Police Department.

The victim told police that when she pulled her 1998 Pontiac Bonneville into a parking stall at the Target store at 1800 Valley West Drive the afternoon of Aug. 3, she accidentally “bumped” the front bumper and license plate carrier of another vehicle, a 2009 Toyota Corolla. A woman inside reportedly got out and “began yelling and screaming at her, telling she hit her car.”

So the older woman backed up her car a bit and made another attempt at parking, again reportedly lightly tapping the Toyota, Officer Shawn Miller reported.

The passenger of the Toyota again exited her vehicle, inspected it and then got back in. There didn’t appear to be any damage, according to the report.

The driver of the Bonneville approached the other woman and “they exchanged cuss words at each other,” Miller reported, and then the older woman went into the store to do her shopping.

While she was in the store, the owner of the Toyota allegedly vandalized it. After police retrieved the car license number from the surveillance photo and identified the suspect, they went to his home to investigate.

He initially denied any involvement, but when police showed him the photo, he admitted to it, but said he was justified because the victim had damaged his license plate. He was charged with fifth-degree criminal mischief.

He reportedly offered to pay for the damage to the Bonneville, which police estimated at $200. The Toyota was not damaged.