Entitled a**hole tries to get me arrested after he parked his car in the middle of the road.

The entitlement in this story is a little extreme even for this forum, so buckle up.

Last Sunday I went out into very stormy weather (the proverbial "once in a decade" storm), to do some basic grocery shopping. The local supermarket has atrocious parking, being in an area designed more for cafes and socialising than getting people in and out quickly. It got worse when half the available parking bays had giant stone planers and benches place in them, further restricting access by car. There is a large car park around the back but on a day like this one closer bays were at a premium. I was not early enough and had to park around the back, which didn't worry me too much.

While I was cruising up the street on front of the supermarket to see if there were any available spaces I saw a guy stop his van in the street. Literally in the left lane (I'm Aussie)right next to one of the planters, blocking an already confined throughway. As I passed i saw him approach the supermarket entry, which was the last I saw of him before having to turn. He couldn't get in because the shop had not opened, but he clearly thought nothing of inconveniencing everyone else as long as it made his life a bit easier.

Between working security for the local council and strongly detesting seeing such behaviour, I decided to take a photo of his license plate, clearing showing a) where he was parked, and b) that there was no one in the driver's seat. Seconds after I took the second photo he cam running out of a nearby bakery, screaming at me and accusing me of trying to take a photo of his kids, calling me a, erm, "friend of epstein(?)", if I may use the analogy and threatening to smash my phone and myself.

To be clear, I had zero idea there were any kids in the car. The rear half of he vehicle, a people mover type van, had what looked the darkest tinting legal on the windows, making it impossible to see inside. His rantings were the first I learned of their presence, and was frankly gobsmacked that that was the first thing his mind went to. I was working on the assumption he was pissed there was evidence of his wrong doing and didn't want to receive a fine for his illegal behaviour.

I won't go into detail about his abusive behaviour, both verbal and physical. Top of his list of demands was that I give him the phone so he could delete the photos, which was never going to happen given his threat to destroy it. I tried showing him the photos to prove there was nothing showing his kids, but he wasn't buying it. He tried justifying his actions with cliched, "Everyone else does it," as well as, "I didn't want to bring my kids out in this weather."

Of course this led to the question of why he brought them in the first place. I later learned they had been at the local indoor pool, and the fact they were sitting in the back in their bathers is likely what made him think dark thoughts. His state was such that evidence and proof meant nothing to him, and he eventually drove off telling me he would come back for me after dropping off his kids. Again, why he didn't do that in the first place if it was an option is beyond me.

He left, I did my shopping, and as I got to my car i thought it was over. Nope. As I'm putting my seat belt open he's suddenly opening the car door and yelling at me again. Fearing for my safety I deleted the photos while he continued ranting, again impervious to what I was telling him and calling me every name you can imagine. Eventually he was placated enough to allow me to leave, now somewhat shaken and wanting to go home. I make one mistake; I assumed he had driven back sans kids and wanted to try and get another look at his license plate. As I approached the corner to that irritating street he was crossing the road in front of me, blocking me and yelling once more. I turned around him carefully and went back up the street, which is when I realised he lived close by and had walked back to the shops. I went him and stressed that he really had called the police as he had threatened.

Turns out it wasn't a threat. A couple of hours later a patrol car arrives. I explained the situation and my motivation, thinking I had zero proof to back up my claims having deleted the photos. Thankfully one of the officers was more tech savvy than I and located them in the phone's recycle bin, which I didn't even know existed. :D They saw there was nothing to the man's accusations in that regard, but mentioned he also claimed I tried to run him over. I knew the truth but a lack of dash came footage had me worried. The police told me they'd look at nearby CCTV footage (there was a council building with security cameras on the corner in question), but admitted they had their doubts given how much of his story had already fallen apart. They told me they didn't see it going anywhere but asked if I'd be available to testify if he tried to take it further. They ended up leaving, and I treated my self to a tall Johnnie Walker.

It's been five days and, even allowing for a public holiday, if anything was going to happen it would have by now. This isn't the first time such accusations have been made against me while engaged in security related activities; it seems to be the go to accusation and attack these days when people are called out for the poor behaviour. My mistake in this case was engaging in said activities in civilian clothing. It's a mistake I will not be making again, nor do I think I'll be going back there any time soon given how many people sided with the creep.

I did have a couple of questions though. Why did he think it was OK to leave in his kids in a car abandoned in the middle of the street? If he was so keen to keep said kids out of the weather, why didn't he drop them off before going to the shops? Most importantly, was there anyone with the kids after he dropped them off and came back to rage at me? If there was someone to care for them, surely the sensible thing to have done would be to leave them there in the first place? Something about the clown has me thinking he left the kids alone to pursue his vendetta, and I've been wondering (and hoping) if this hasn't backfired on him in a major way. I'll likely never know, but the hope it does eases some of the stress the incident caused.

If you can read this you don't need glasses. :P :D