This all took place in the parking structure of a Target in Pasadena. The man was driving in a car with a Pasadena Building and Safety emblem affixed to the door. It's unclear if he was there for work or for a personal errand.
[Ads /]
In the video shot by a Target shopper, it seemed the Pasadena employee felt he was just doing his job.
The female driver allegedly cut him off, so he blocked her in. He parked his city vehicle directly behind the woman's car, completely trapping her and not letting her leave. Then, he proceeded to give her a lengthy lecture, telling her, "You need to learn how to drive."
"I didn't know you had to be so rude and so mean," the woman told the city worker.
Then, the bystander shopper who filmed the incident said, "You can't block her."
The man's reply: "I can do whatever I want."
"Uh, you cannot, just because you have a building and safety....you're not the f------ cops," the shopper said.
"I should call my brother, he's a police officer," said the woman who was blocked in.
[Ads /]
"Call your brother. I don't care. You cut me off. You're lucky I didn't slam into your car," the man said.
The female driver, whose child was in the back seat, was clearly shaken up by being berated by the man.
"If I made a mistake and I probably did...So I'm going to admit I made a mistake and I'm very sorry," said the woman, who was sitting inside her car while the man stood over her outside of her vehicle.
He continued to shout at the woman, and when a Target security guard approached him, he yelled at him, too, saying, "Who are you to tell me what to do?"
When the guard told the man he's on private property, he said, "I work for the city...so you're telling me that I can't come in here and do my job?"
[Ads /]
To clarify, Pasadena's Building and Safety Division's responsibilities include enforcing zoning, housing and environmental codes and developing ordinances.
Jeff Kurtty, who has been shopping at this Target for years, said he would have been shaken too if this happened to him.
"I think that would scare me. If somebody stopped and blocked my car and started wagging their finger at me," Kurtty said.
In a statement to Eyewitness News, the city of Pasadena said, "We are aware and promptly investigating the incident."
"The city might want to tell this employee that he should stick to his job," Kurtty said.