(Photo courtesy of the Town of Cheektowaga)
The Trump 2020 slogan he wrote on the side of the plow truck was meant as a joke to be seen only by his co-workers in the Town of Cheektowaga highway garage, Robert Hupkowicz says.
Instead, it ignited malicious political payback that drew wide attention, according to a federal lawsuit he filed Wednesday.
When town officials accused Hupkowicz of vandalizing the truck in December 2019, he was pulled over by police, handcuffed, booked, fingerprinted, mugshotted and suspended without pay. Then, town officials alerted the media, he said, and his arrest became news for the public polarized over the presidency of Donald Trump.
But local politics – not national – explain what happened to him, Hupkowicz said in his lawsuit against the town supervisor, highway superintendent and deputy highway superintendent.
The Cheektowaga Supervisor's Office has been at political odds with the Highway Department for many years, with animosity and resentment building between the department and certain elected town leaders, according to the lawsuit.
A Cheektowaga Highway Department employee was arrested on the job Friday – and suspended for 30 days without pay – after police said he defaced town property by spray-painting a pro-Trump statement on the side of a plow truck. Robert Hupkowicz, 46, of Depew, was charged with criminal mischief and making graffiti for painting words – Trump 2020 –
"As a result of the political animosity between the Highway Department and the Town of Cheektowaga elected officials, a culture of divisiveness and vindictiveness has manifested itself," according to the lawsuit.
Hupkowicz, who described himself as a well-known member of the Conservative Party, was a campaign manager for Supervisor Diane Benczkowski's opponent in the previous election.
The town supervisor "was offended that members of the Highway Department were challenging her for political office," so she sought to make an example of a department employee who publicly opposed her, according to his lawsuit.
Hupkowicz named the town and Benczkowski, Highway Superintendent Mark Wegner and Deputy Highway Superintendent Charles Markel as defendants in the federal suit. Calls seeking comment were not returned by the supervisor's office or highway department.
To appreciate why he wrote Trump 2020 on the truck requires understanding the norms and customs of the Highway Department, he said.
He was performing routine maintenance on the dump truck in the town highway garage, out of view from the public. Only town employees are allowed in the garage.
He was getting the truck ready for snow plowing and road salting, he said. His work included removing rust from the truck with a sander, mounting the salting apparatus to the bed of the truck and replacing the wooden boards that hold the salting apparatus in place.
Hupkowicz called it "normal custom" for highway employees to write or draw funny messages or pictures on snow removal equipment they intend to replace or repaint. So any messages or pictures are painted over before a truck or piece of equipment leaves the garage, or the messages are scrawled on old pieces of equipment that will be discarded. The public never sees what they write or draw, he said.
He called the practice a "way of building comradery and alleviating stress" during long work hours.
So on the Thursday afternoon of Dec. 19, 2019, as a joke just for his co-workers, he said, he painted "Trump 2020" on wooden boards that were to be replaced before the truck was to leave the garage.
When he showed for work the next morning, he expected to finish the maintenance work on the truck. But he was instructed to take a different truck and drive along streets picking up curbside piles of leaves.
Shortly afterward, three Cheektowaga police vehicles pulled him over, with one activating its emergency lights and siren. Two police officers approached him and told him he was under arrest because of a criminal complaint by Markel, according to his lawsuit. He said he was handcuffed on the side of the road in front of two other Highway Department employees and many members of the public.
Hupkowicz, 47, of Depew, was charged with criminal mischief and making graffiti for painting the words – Trump 2020 – in black and white on the boards on the truck.
On that same afternoon, he was given a letter of discipline by Wegner, informing him he was being suspended without pay until further notice. The letter alleged that he vandalized town property.
The truck was parked in a corner of the highway garage when workers discovered it and notified authorities, Wegner told The News that day.
“He was supposed to scrape the rust off, clean it up,” Wegner said. “I’m disappointed. It’s Christmas, but the truck will be painted Monday morning.”
Hupkowicz was arraigned before Town Justice James J. Speyer Jr. and released on his own recognizance.
The town highway laborer was not allowed to return to work for 45 days, according to the lawsuit.
After a disciplinary hearing, he was allowed to return to work, fully restored to his previous job and duties, according to his lawsuit. On Oct. 15, he appeared in Cheektowaga Town Court, where the charges were dismissed "in the interests of justice," according to the lawsuit.
Hupkowicz is seeking compensatory and punitive damages to be awarded by a jury, said attorney Michael T. Dwan, who represents Hupkowicz. No specific amount was asked for in the lawsuit. The lawsuit cites false arrest, malicious prosecution, conspiracy to deprive an individual's rights and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Hupkowicz accused the three town officials of conspiring to make false allegations against him to the Cheektowaga Police Department, leading to his arrest. The three acted with malice, he said, by targeting him for his political views, including his endorsement of a rival candidate for the town supervisor position held by Benczkowski.
January 29, 2021 at 07:42AM
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Lawsuit: Arrest over 'joke' Trump message on Cheektowaga truck reveals vindictive politics - Buffalo News
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