Police: Greenwich Man Repeatedly Made Racist Comments in Disputing $15 Parking Ticket

A 55-year-old Greenwich man became upset enough over a $15 parking ticket that he called the black parking enforcement agent a common racist word and also said the attendant should remember what happened in Ferguson, MO.

In Ferguson, an unarmed black man was shot to death in an incident with a white police officer.

The man who got the ticket, David Liebenguth, 55, of Kent Place in Cos Cob, was later charged with breach of peace by New Canaan police.

New Canaan police gave this account (an accusation not proven in court) of the incident:

Liebenguth’s 1999 white Ford Escort station wagon was parked in a spot without a payment, so at about 10:43 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 28, the parking enforcement agent wrote one up and put it on the car.

He then walked over to another car and was about to ticket that one when a white woman approached him and said she was from out of town, was confused by the ticketing process and was ready to move her car. The agent agreed not to give her a ticket.

Liebenguth arrived and saw the woman being let off without a ticket. He loudly objected to getting a ticket himself and began swearing. Liebenguth said he only got a ticket because his vehicle is a white one while the woman’s vehicle is black.

At about that point Liebenguth also said that the parking enforcement agent should remember what happened in Ferguson.

The parking enforcement agent and a witness (not the woman who didn’t get the ticket) said that when Liebenguth walked away, he muttered a word often used by racists to describe African-Americans. That witness also heard Liebenguth mention Ferguson, but didn’t hear exactly what he said.

Police applied for and received a warrant charging Liebenguth with breach of peace. Liebenguth went to the police station to receive a notice to appear Sept. 29 in state Superior Court in Norwalk. He was released on a promise to appear in court.

Photo courtesy of New Canaan Police: David Liebenguth.