Woman Reportedly Unleashes Anger in West Des Moines Hy-Vee Parking Lot

A Waukee woman reported to West Des Moines police that she watched another shopper use a key to scratch a foot-long mark in her vehicle while it was parked at Hy-Vee, 1725 Jordan Creek Pkwy., the evening of March 1.

The other shopper, who faces charges of fourth-degree criminal mischief and disorderly conduct for using an abusive epithet, apparently was angry over the way Cynthia Buchanan of Waukee had parked her 2012 Honda Pilot.

The dispute started when Buchanan didn’t realize she was being paged to the front of the store. The page asked the owner of a black truck to report, but Buchanan drives an SUV. She didn’t immediately recognize her license plate number, she told Officer Jason Lichty.

Buchanan said that as she was taking her groceries to the car in a cart, a woman approached her allegedly screaming profanities about how badly she had parked her car and asking Buchanan why she had taken her “sweet time” getting to the parking lot.

Buchanan told police she apologized and explained that she hadn’t realized the page was about her vehicle. She had loaded her vehicle with groceries and was wheeling the cart to the bin, an act police said angered the other woman more.

The suspect allegedly yelled:

“Here, I’ll help you to move your car a little faster” and scratched a foot-long mark into the passenger front and back door of Buchanan’s vehicle.

“Cynthia stood there astonished at what had just happened,” Lichty said.

As the woman drove away in a newer model white two-door vehicle with a spoiler, Buchanan was able to make out the letters “S” and “C” in the personalized license plates. Hy-Vee employees provided police with surveillance photos of the suspect in the store and video of her leaving the parking lot.

The matter remains under investigation.