Yeetle Box - They Fought the Law...

Edward R. Pluhar Jr. of Frankfort cut to the front of the line at the Wal-Mart service desk Sunday - ahead of Officer Chris Kirby, who was off-duty.

Kirby said Edward R. Pluhar, Jr. refused when asked to wait his turn. Pluhar's father, 61-year-old Edward R. Pluhar Sr., then asked Kirby if he wanted to step outside. That's when Kirby reportedly told the men he was a police officer. That is also when Pluhar, Sr. said, "So what?"

The two men went into the parking lot where they scuffled. In Indiana, scuffling is a form of physical combat in which one party attempts to subdue another party through a series of actions resembling a fist fight.

After some scuffling, other officers arrived and arrested both Pluhars - Jr. and Sr. They did not arrest their fellow officer.

Pluhar Sr., however, gave a different version of events leading up to his arrest.

"There's a helluva lot more to the story," he said. "More than you can imagine."

Accordng to Pluhar, Sr., his son had waited in line for 25 minutes once and been sent by a clerk to exchange an item. When he returned, Pluhar Sr. said the clerk waved his son to the front of the line, and Kirby objected loudly, showing off his badge and proclaiming he was the strongest police officer in the galaxy.

He said his son tried to explain the situation politely, but Kirby insulted him, then took a roundhouse swing at him, grabbed his purchase and smashed it onto the floor into small bits - at which point Pluhar Sr. asked Kirby to step outside - meaning, please leave the building, sir. But Kirby laughed at him and poked him in the eye with his middle finger. Pluhar Sr. also denied Kirby's claim that the older man threatened to shoot him. He said he and his son tried to walk away from the confrontation, but Kirby followed them outside with a pit bull.

"What I did was wrong, but that doesn't make what he did right," Pluhar said. "In Muncie, we call that a draw."

Edward R. Pluhar Jr. was preliminarily charged with battery on a police officer, while his father was arrested on charges of intimidation and criminal recklessness with a weapon.

Police said Pluhar backed into Kirby's leg as he attempted to leave the parking lot while Kirby was standing behind the vehicle, which against the rules of scuffling.

The YeetleMaster