14 DAY TRIAL // Two people were arrested at a Wal-Mart store in Muncie, Ind., after a police officer who was off-duty saw them cutting a line. He stepped up to them and asked them to move to their place, but the two refused. An altercation followed, and the two ended up in arrest, charged with serious crimes each. However, the two, father and son, have a different version to the story, and a judge is to hear them too. At the moment, they are out of jail, having posted bond.
Officer Chris Kirby, who was waiting in line at a queue, reported that he saw 26 year-old Edward R. Pluhar Jr., and 61 year-old Edward R. Pluhar Sr. cutting the line and moving ahead of everyone else to the clerk's desk. He stepped out and confronted the two, but they reportedly refused to return to wait their turn, and the father even asked him if he wanted to step outside. At that time, Kirby said he told them that he was a police officer, but that the two left the store.
Kirby followed both of them outside, where they reportedly scuffled until more officers arrived at the scene and arrested the Pluhars. The men, both from Frankfort, made bail, and were soon afterwards released from custody. Upon their discharge, Pluhar Sr. said that Kirby was lying, and that the officer's story was not entirely true.
He said that his son had been sent by the clerk to exchange an item they had purchased and that, upon Pluhar Jr.'s return, Kirby walked to them and asked them to get back in line. The man said that Kirby didn't reveal his identity as a police officer at the time. Seeking to avoid confrontation, the Pluhars left the store, but Kirby followed them, and only revealed himself to be a policeman when his colleagues arrived in the parking lot too.
Pluhar Jr was officially charged with battery on a police officer. His father, Pluhar Sr, was also charged with intimidation and criminal recklessness with a weapon. Also, the two are accused of having injured Kirby with their car, as they were attempting to exit the parking lot, with the officer still at the rear of their vehicle.