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Revealed: MN Gun-Toter's Grocery Store Parking Lot Pepper Spray Case Records

Justin Elliott | October 6, 2009, 6:04PM

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Josh Hendrickson

Barack Obama, Gun-Toters, Hennepin County Workhouse, Josh Hendrickson, Pepper Spray

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Remember the rash of right-wing protesters who showed up to Obama events in August and September armed -- sometimes to the teeth?

In the middle of September, the gun-toter du jour was Josh Hendrickson, who came to an Obama health care speech in Minneapolis with a Glock and a Kel Tec 380 in his back pocket. But Hendrickson was a little different from the other gun-toters: he showed up at the event just after getting out of jail for a pepper-spraying incident.

And based on court records we've obtained, that episode appears to have been an unfortunate flareup of Mall Cop Rage. It resulted in a fifth degree assault misdemeanor conviction.

In short: Hendrickson, serving as a security guard at a Cub Foods in a Minneapolis suburb, wasn't happy with where a female customer parked her car while returning a movie, according to police. So when she returned and got into her car, he slammed the door on her. Their argument escalated.

At which point he pepper-sprayed her -- a "quick hit" as he described it -- through the window. For good measure, Hendrickson followed that up with another quick hit of spray on the woman's driver's side headlight, according to police.

Hendrickson was given an $1,000 fine and 89 days to serve in the Hennepin County Workhouse, starting in June 2009.

Here's the key passage from the court records, which can be read in full here:

Hardeman indicated she was at the Cub Foods Store ... to return a movie at the Red Box machine. She parked her vehicle by the fire lane, and when she got out of the vehicle, a man described as white, approximately 40-45, 6 feet tall with a medium build, wearing a uniform-type green shirt, started to yell at her about not parking in the fire lane. Hardeman indicated that she just needed to return the movie and would be right back outside. As there were people in line, she gave the money that she needed for the return to the people there and asked them to return the movie for her. She then went back out to her vehicle, and as she walked back out, the male started to argue with her again as she was walking toward her vehicle. She got in the car, and the male was still right next to her yelling. As she was about to close the door, the male slammed the door on her and the confrontation continued. She rolled down her window, and told the male that slamming the door was not going to help with anything. The male sprayed her with some type of aerosol chemical in the face through the open window. After spraying her, the male then walked up to the headlight located on the driver's side in the front, sprayed the light, and then began walking towards the Cub Foods main entrance. Hardeman indicated that she felt a burning sensation in her eye, and that her right eye was irritated. She then drove home to wash her eye, and called the police. ...
Officer Moua also spoke with the suspect, Joshua Hendrickson, who indicated that he had made a report through his work ... In that report, Hendrickson admits to giving Hardeman a "quick tap" of his pepper spray, but states that it was in response to a belief that she was going to open her car door and hit him with it."