SALEM, MASS. (WHDH) - A former Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department Jail Officer is facing criminal charges after allegedly attacking two men in a Walmart parking lot, one of whom says he was trying to park in a handicap spot.

Peter Flynn, 61, of Swampscott, appeared briefly in court on Monday.

Dennis Diefenbach says he was waiting to pull into a handicap spot at the Walmart in Salem in November when he was suddenly attacked by a man in another car.

“I had a guy behind me beeping the horn, and I just put my hand out and said ‘wait one minute,'” said Diefenbach. “The horn [kept] beeping.”

Rick Remieres says he was standing right there and stepped in.

“Car pulls up behind – beep, beep, beep,” Remieres recounted. “I just stepped back [and said], ‘hold on man, he’s waiting for a handicap spot.’ Beep, beep again. I stepped back again and said it louder.”

That’s when the two men claim Flynn got out of his car and went on the attack.

“He spit at me,” said Remieres. “Spit in my face and as I was wiping it away, that’s when he punched me in the chest, knocked me down. [I] hit my head and I had a concussion.”

“I jumped out and I said to the guy ‘what are you doing,'” said Diefenbach. “I’m handicapped here! He pushed me against the van.”

Salem Police say Flynn also had a gun on him and one of the alleged victims claims Flynn flashed it at him.

Flynn’s attorney tells 7NEWS the two men were the aggressors and that his client was spit on and reacted to them.

Now, Flynn is facing assault charges and the two men he interacted with want him held accountable.

“What could have been ‘OK yea, we’ll move in one second,'” said Remieres. “It could have been a quick in and out and that’s it, but no, he chose to do something violent. It’s disgusting.”

Police say there’s security footage from the Salem Walmart of the incident.

The case will be back in court in March.

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