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Parking-lot rage leaves others shaking heads

A woman is bumped by a car a week after a fatal shooting. AAA advises not holding a spot by standing in it.

By SHANNON TAN
Published August 4, 2005

Gerry Milot, 70, couldn't find a handicap space at the crowded Wal-Mart on Missouri Avenue in Largo. So his wife, June, 66, staked out a spot, standing in it until he could move their car over.

But Henry Gawlik also wanted the coveted space. So he bumped June Milot out of the way with his Cadillac, police said.

Gawlik, 81, was arrested on charges of aggravated battery with a vehicle and battery for hitting Gerry Milot after an argument.

While June Milot was unhurt in Monday's incident, other parking-lot rage incidents have turned deadly. Last week, St. Petersburg police said an argument over a parking spot outside a popular nightclub led to the shooting death of a 17-year-old Boca Ciega High School student.

At a time when mall parking lots are jammed and a hike to the entrance might be considered serious exercise, some people are getting dangerously testy.

Most agree parking space protocol is first-come, first-served. But what happens when someone steals your space, or when someone tries to reserve a space for a car that has yet to arrive?

Tempers flare. Middle fingers are extended. Drivers yell profanities and blast their horns. Others key cars and slash tires.

No one knows how bad the problem is. It's not like you can charge someone who zips in front of you with theft of a parking space. But turf battles over prime spots near store entrances are becoming more common, experts say.

Just because there are no laws governing parking lots "doesn't exempt you from the rest of the socially agreed-upon rules," said University of South Florida professor Carlos Zalaquett.

As a rule-of-thumb, "you will not try to take out an older adult," said Zalaquett, assistant professor in the community mental health counseling program.

Certain times of the year tend to bring out the worst in parking lot rage, said Largo police Deputy Chief John Carroll.

"When it's really hot out or during the holiday season when malls are full, people who want to find the best parking spot tend to aggravate each other in the parking lot," he said.

On Wednesday, drivers navigating the congested Wal-Mart parking lot in Largo waited for a space to open up. Others stalked shoppers leaving the store, following them to their parking spots. But no one stood in the middle of a space.

Carol Davison, 58, Clearwater, parked far away from the entrance.

"You say aggressive, I say plain nasty," she said of other drivers. "I hate coming to this store."

She wants to avoid re-creating an incident at a Publix where she watched as a driver rammed a shopping cart into another car to get into a parking space.

Cindy Parker, who was walking to her car in a parking lot in front of a St. Petersburg Publix on Wednesday, said she once saw someone try to save a parking spot by standing in it.

"I think it's ridiculous," she said. "To me there's no sense in fighting over a parking space because you just go around the corner and find another."

AAA Auto Club South's Yoli Buss advises against standing in a parking space to reserve it.

"That could be dangerous," said Buss, director of driver improvement programs. "We don't know who the person is behind the wheel."

St. Petersburg resident Pat Hardin, a victim of parking injustice, said she was aghast to hear that a man had bumped a woman with a car over a parking spot.

Once, Hardin was in her car, waiting for someone to back out of a parking space she had staked out. Her blinker was on to signal she had claimed the spot. But then another car zoomed in.

"It made me mad," she said, but she would never have fought with the other driver over it.

Once a person gets behind the wheel, he or she becomes more aggressive, Zalaquett said. A driver nabs your space - who does he think he is?

"The person goes into a spiral of angriness," he said. "He or she starts acting in a way he may not have reacted if he stopped and (rethought) this situation."

Carroll, the Largo deputy police chief, has a solution to parking-lot rage.

"Everybody wants to have that front parking spot," he says, "when we would all benefit from more exercise."

Times staff writers Emily Anthes and Alex Leary and researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report.

[Last modified August 4, 2005, 01:18:15]