Woman saving parking space for daughter at Costco gets ‘mowed down’ by man in pickup truck
A woman was standing in a parking space in a Costco parking lot in Salt Lake City so that her daughter could fetch their vehicle and bring it close so they could load their purchases.
A man in a pickup truck wanted to park there.
It seems that a truck trumps a pedestrian in a standoff, even though the legal consequences may last for a long time.
As the case stands now, Frank Mysliwiec, 67, from Evanston, Wyoming, is accused of felony aggravated assault, after the woman, who was not named in reports, claimed he mowed her down, knocking her back into another vehicle.
Mysliwiec said he simply revved his engine and the woman fell backward.
According to a report in the Cowboy State Daily, the incident happened Jan. 4.
An Evanston man was charged with a felony Tuesday, accused of mowing down a woman trying to save a parking space at a Costco store in Salt Lake City. He claims she fell after he revved his engine, but witnesses and video say he accelerated into the woman.https://t.co/gtOzbBirsp
— Cowboy State Daily (@daily_cowboy) February 11, 2026
The woman and her daughter had finished shopping and decided “the daughter would try to move their vehicle closer to the store to load their items.”
Salt Lake City Police Officer Eric Martinez said in an affidavit they found an empty stall and the mother stood there “to save it.”
“That’s when Mysliwiec saw the open space and wanted to park his truck there but was met by the woman standing in the space to block his way,” the affidavit explained.
The woman, identified by her initials JH, “told Mysliwiec that he could not park there.”
That when the defendant either “hit the gas” or “revved his engine.”
The result of whichever was the woman fell backward and hit her head on another vehicle.
The report said witnesses appeared to back the woman’s claim the truck hit her.
Mysliwiec said the woman “placed her hands on the hood of his truck, and he revved the engine, causing JH to fall backward.”