'Merry Christmas, !*&@#' Note Accompanies Slashed Tires

Posted Feb. 12, 2013 | Amended Aug. 24, 2015

A parking spot dispute two days before Christmas left a Costco customer with flat tires and a note reading “Merry Christmas, (expletive).”

A 61-year-old Sussex man was charged Wednesday in Waukesha County Circuit Court with disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property. In September 2013, he was found guilty of misdemeanor disorderly conduct and the criminal damage to property charge was dismissed.

The charges stem from a parking spot dispute two days before Christmas, according to a criminal complaint.

Pewaukee police were called to Costco, 443 Pewaukee Road, after someone reported a dispute between two customers.

Leading up to the dispute was this, according to the criminal complaint:

A man was waiting to pull into a parking spot when someone else drove in instead. He was upset, he told police, and exchanged words with the people in the car. He then told police he deflated one or two tires on the car with a key, and left a note on the vehicle saying “Merry Christmas.”

The woman driving the other car told police she didn’t realize he was waiting for the spot when she pulled into it. As soon as she parked, she told police, he started screaming at her, swearing and calling her a derogatory name — and that he threatened to park behind her so she couldn’t back out.

She and her boyfriend went into the store, and came out 45 minutes to find the man underneath the car with a knife in his hand. Not knowing what he was going to do to her or the car, the woman told police she kicked him to knock him off balance. Then, according to court records, he charged at her, again swearing and calling her names, bumping into her chest and asking her what she was “planning to do now.”

The woman and her boyfriend went back into the store and called 911. When they again got back to the vehicle, they found two flat tires — one of which had been slashed — and the note saying “Merry Christmas, (expletive).”