An Eagan man driving in St. Paul became angry with a hotel valet and charged at him a crowbar, according to charges filed Tuesday in Ramsey County District Court.
Paul David Buol, 53, was charged with making terroristic threats in connection with the Sunday night incident. He told police he was “guilty as hell” of threatening the valet, but didn’t intend to harm the man, according to the complaint.
The 37-year-old valet was assisting a customer outside the Hyatt Hotel on Kellogg Boulevard in downtown St. Paul on Sunday night when Buol drove by at about 40 mph, honking his horn and driving through a red light at Sibley Street, the charges said.
Buol drove by again at a fairly high speed and the valet “slapped the back of the car” as it passed. In response, Buol turned around and drove by a third time, stopping within a foot of the valet, the complaint said.
He got out, holding a crowbar above his head as though planning to use it to assault the valet. Afraid and unable to get into the hotel, the valet grabbed Buol and pulled him toward a wall of the hotel vestibule, the charges said.
Buol said that “of course” he wasn’t going to hit the man with the crowbar, saying that it “would have killed him,” but that the victim had no right to touch his car and “beat the hell out of” him, according to the complaint.
Buol has been employed as a maintenance worker with the St. Paul Public Schools since July 2014, according to the district.
He received a written reprimand in January for “inappropriate and unacceptable conduct.”
During a two-day “Beyond Diversity” seminar last year, Buol became “confrontational,” “disruptive” and so “visibly agitated,” the training facilitator feared he might hit her, the reprimand said.