A Florida woman who gave a whole new meaning to “extreme couponer” has been convicted for pulling a gun on a Walmart employee who refused her “$1 off” coupon.
It’s getting dangerous out there, folks!
53-year-old Mary Alday of Crawfordville, Florida has been found guilty of aggravated assault, battery and resisting arrest.
The charges stemmed from an incident at a local Walmart store last March. A Walmart assistant manager told police she was summoned to the customer service desk to referee a dispute over a rejected coupon. Alday was said to be “extremely upset” that her cashier did not accept her printable coupon, offering a dollar off an unspecified product. According to investigators with the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office, the assistant manager explained (erroneously) that “it is not Walmart’s policy to accept internet coupons.”
And that just made Alday even angrier. The assistant manager said Alday began swearing at her, hit her with a shopping cart, and dared her to “call the cops”.
So the assistant manager did. According to the police report, she then began following Alday to the parking lot to get her license plate number, but stopped just outside the front door when Alday warned, “if you follow me, I have something in my car for you.”
By that time, three other Walmart managers had joined the assistant manager outside the store. All four of them stood and watched as Alday went to her car to get something, then emerged with a handgun. She then, says the police report, “removed the gun from the holster and pointed it at all of the store employees and stated, ‘I have something for y’all!'”
The Walmart employees hightailed it inside the store, and Alday jumped in her car and took off. A police detective caught up with her a short distance away, and reported that she refused to get out of the car or give up her gun (“I have a concealed weapons permit, and you are not taking my gun,” she told the officer.) A struggle ensued, the officer reported, but with the help of a few zaps from his handy taser, she was ultimately taken out of her car and put into handcuffs.
All this over a one-dollar coupon! To be fair, it is not actually Walmart’s policy not to accept internet coupons, as the assistant manager explained. But Alday didn’t do herself any favors by reacting the way she did. She was sentenced to seven days behind bars, plus two years of community control (a form of house arrest), followed by two years of probation. She’ll also have to give up any access to firearms, complete anger management classes, and pay $1,392 in fines and court costs.
If you’re keeping score, that’s 1,392 one-dollar coupons. If she’s able to redeem any at Walmart to help save money to pay her penalties, employees can only hope her anger management classes are working.
If not, well, at least this time she won’t have a gun.
Image sources: Flickr/Mike Mozart, Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office
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