|
Article Courtesy of The Palm
Beach Post
By Paige Fry
Published June 9, 2017
An
HOA security officer is facing an aggravated battery charge after a resident
accused the officer of hitting him with his patrol car during a dispute about a
parking ticket, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said.
|
Thomas Kabis, 78, of
suburban Greenacres is facing a charge of aggravated battery
with a deadly weapon. He was arrested May 23, the day the
incident took place, and released from the county jail the
next day on a $5,000 bond.
The incident took place in Pine Glen at Abbey Park, along
Forest Hill Boulevard east of Greenacres city limits.
According to a sheriff’s report, investigators say Kabis
approached a man making repairs to a car in front of his
Glencove Lane home and told him that he was illegally parked
and that he was writing him a ticket.
The man said he was working on his vehicle, which had the
hood up, the report said. Despite this, Kabis still wrote
him a ticket and taped it on the rear passenger-side window.
The man videotapped Kabis doing this with his phone.
Kabis then went back to his security vehicle and prepared to
drive away while the man stood in front of the car,
according to the report. The man told deputies that Kabis
“without warning” drove forward and hit him with the
vehicle. |
|
|
The report said the man then jumped onto the hood of the car “to keep from being
snatched under the vehicle” and that Kabis stopped abruptly, hoping to shake the
man to the ground. The man said “his head whipped forward striking the
windshield” from the momentum of the event and that he held onto a windshield
wiper “in fear of his life” as Kabis tried to drive away, according to the
report.
Kabis told police that he knew the man was upset when he gave him a ticket, and
he was planning to leave without causing an incident. He said he drove toward
the man so that he would get out of the way of his car, but he didn’t move and
then jumped onto the hood of the car.
Kabis told officers he tried to speed up and slam on the brakes to get the man
off the hood of his car. He said he tried swerving to get him off the vehicle
but that “he must have some strong fingers.” Kabis said he called authorities
once the incident ended.
The victim scrapped his left elbow and said he couldn’t feel the fingers on his
left hand, the report said. Medics were called to the scene to tend to his
injuries.
Kabis may not work in the community until while the matter is before the courts.
He is set to appear before Circuit Court Judge Laura Johnson on June 29,
according to online court documents.
|
