Anger Issues Can Lead to Liability
The holiday season brings with it a lot of different types of stress. One particular type that is felt by everyone is the stress that accompanies the seeming inability to find a parking spot within one hundred miles of the store you are trying to shop at. The general chaos that surrounds parking lots at this time of year can lead to fights and arguments of all sorts as drivers jockey for premium parking spots. One such fight took a painful turn last Sunday as an eighteen year-old woman stabbed a man in the chest with an ice pick outside a Springfield, Missouri restaurant because she felt that the man had taken her parking space. He was taken to the hospital, but his injuries were not life-threatening. The criminal consequences of the woman’s actions are discussed here.
This scenario illustrates that driving a vehicle with the wrong mindset can lead to liability both from actions taken while driving a car and from actions taken once a driver has stepped out of the car. Plainly put, reasonable people do not attack strangers with ice picks for stealing “their” parking space. Drivers who become so enraged at the thought of someone taking their space that they feel the need to physically assault someone probably should not be driving and should take special care to avoid trying to park on weekends before the holiday season, as it can be strenuous. It is important to remember that although you may have your turn signal on, may have your brother-in-law standing in the space, or may have waited for fifteen minutes for someone to load four kids and one large bicycle into a compact car before pulling out of a parking space, that space does not belong to you. If someone else, as rude as it may seem, manages to get their vehicle into that space before your vehicle gets there, there is not a whole lot you can do about it. Overreacting in the manner described above will go no further toward getting drivers a better parking space, although it may very well land them a free ride to jail. Drivers will also be liable in tort for any damages caused as a result of the unreasonable assaultive conduct. It is simply better to walk an extra few yards in order to save the potential embarrassment and expense.
Source: http://www.news-leader.com/article/20091221/NEWS01/912210340/1007/Man-stabbed-by-ice-pick-in-beef-over-parking-spot
