US man 'thrown out of his wheelchair after warning able-bodied driver'

Philip Kinstler pulled into the Pleasant Hill, Calif., Target parking lot in his hand-controlled van on the night of Jan. 11. That single request, according to Pleasant Hill police, would lead the woman’s partner to track down Kinstler inside the Target and demand he apologize to her. Then, as customers and Target employees watched in amazement, the suspect grabbed Kinstler’s wheelchair and dumped him onto the ground. “I looked down at my wrist, and it was all askew, and then the pain hit and I thought, my life is over.”  On Tuesday, the Pleasant Hill Police Department released surveillance footage of the violent encounter. The alleged attacker, Jimmie Tiger, was charged with felony assault “by means likely to produce great bodily injury” and attempted kidnapping, for grabbing hold of Kinstler’s wheelchair and wheeling him away for a short distance. “If someone had hired him to do this to me, he could not have done a better job.” An attorney for Tiger could not be immediately located, but a spokesman for the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office said the 32-year-old pleaded not guilty to the charges. He has since been released on ,000 bail, the spokesman said.  According to the Pleasant Hill Police Department, after Kinstler confronted the woman parked in the handicapped spot, he continued on his way into Target to the guest services counter. There, as a cashier was ringing up his return, a tall man in a black hoodie approached Kinstler at the counter, the surveillance video shows.