The town plow driver called it a joke, intended just among co-workers. But writing a Trump 2020 slogan on the sides of a plow truck was not just stupid but also illegal, Cheektowaga Highway Superintendent Mark Wegner said Monday.
Wegner defended the town's handling of the incident, which led to police arresting Robert Hupkowicz on criminal mischief and making graffiti charges in December 2019. Charges were later dropped.
"It wasn't like he was doing it as a joke for town employees," Wegner said.
"It's illegal what he did. He got caught," Wegner added his first public comments on the matter since Hupkowicz filed a federal lawsuit last week against the town seeking compensatory and punitive damages.
"He's just got to start trouble with everybody. This is the stuff we go through with him," Wegner said. "Like we have nothing better to do than deal with this stuff. It's stupid."
Hupkowicz named Wegner, Town Supervisor Diane Benczkowski and Deputy Highway Superintendent Charles Markel as defendants in the federal suit.
The Trump slogan he wrote on the sides of the plow truck was meant as a joke to be seen only by his co-workers in the Town of Cheektowaga highway garage, Hupkowicz said in his lawsuit. He was performing routine maintenance on the dump truck in the town highway garage, out of view from the public, where only town employees are allowed to enter. Hupkowicz said his messages were on wooden boards that were to be replaced and also on equipment to be repainted before the truck was to leave the garage. He said he intended to finish the maintenance work and remove the messages the next day.
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