Matthew Korth appears in court via video conference from the Manitowoc County Jail Sept. 15, 2025. (Image courtesy Manitowoc County courts/Zoom)
MANITOWOC, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Matthew Korth pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges he drove his vehicle onto a sidewalk near a bar because he was upset at the “devil music” being played there.
Korth, 51, also waived his preliminary hearing on three counts, including second-degree recklessly endangering safety for the Sept. 13 incident near PetSkull Brewing. No trial date was set. He returns to court Dec. 4 for a scheduling conference, court records show.
According to the probable cause statement by Manitowoc police:
Police pulled Korth over Saturday night, Sept. 13. He was upset by the “devil music” that was being played near PetSkull Brewing in downtown Manitowoc.
“MATTHEW told me he went to the festival that was taking place and told the venue staff to “shut it the (expletive) down.” MATTHEW was yelling Bible scriptures towards me during our contact… MATTHEW informed me that he went to the event because he doesn’t support the devil because he is extremely religious,” the police report states.
During the stop, the officer was told about complaints about a pedestrian nearly being struck by a vehicle.
“MATTHEW told me that he did a U-turn, accelerated towards the victims that were walking on the sidewalk, then veered out of the way,” the report says.
Korth told the officer he wouldn’t have hit anyone, and they would have moved out of the way.
One of the pedestrians described what happened.
“My girlfriend and I were walking out of Petskull Brewery metal fest, a man in a Jeep Cherokee was blasting music, I throw up the horns for rock ‘n roll. He from a parked position flipped a U-turn and drove onto the sidewalk and was driving right for my girlfriend and I grabbed her and moved her out the way and he almost hit us, jumped the curb and went speeding off into town,” the police report says.
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