Businessman Fined For Attack On Ice Cream Truck

The familiar jingle of an ice cream truck can inspire nostalgic hunger pangs in the most grown-up of people, but at least one man does not find them nearly so pleasant. A prominent Swedish businessman was recently slapped with a large fine after an ice cream truck melody drove him to attack the vehicle with a power drill. 

According to The Local, 71-year-old businessman Percy Nilsson, owner of the Malmö Redhawks ice hockey team, made headlines recently when an ice cream truck jingle made him so angry that he grabbed a power drill and ran outside and drilled holes in all the truck's tires. At the time, he said the power drill attack was intended to spark a public discussion of the "outdated" tradition of having ice cream trucks play music. 

He later confessed to the crime, and he also paid for the truck's tires. But on Friday the Malmö district court ordered him to pay a fine of 100,000 kronor, or about $15,500, and to compensate the ice cream vendor for the time he could not work becuase of the non-functional truck. 

"It was a really tough sentencing and it's sad that it ended this way," Nilsson said. 

Nilsson's lawyer argued that Nilsson was not entirely to blame because the ice cream truck jingle made him suffer mental distress. The court did not agree.