Man Smashes TVs At Wal-Mart With Bat

[arikara]

PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- Police say a Pittsfield man "having a bad day" walked into a city Wal-Mart and used an aluminum baseball bat to smash 16 flat-screen televisions worth $13,000.

Police tell The Berkshire Eagle that 26-year-old Nicholas Adornetto walked into the store at about 1 p.m. on Thursday, grabbed a bat in the sporting goods section and walked to the electronics department, where he started swinging.

Adornetto expressed anger at the government and complained of being unemployed.

snip

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/19274073/detail.html

[NYC_SKP]

WTF, an Aluminum Bat?

Man, it feels so much better when you use a wooden bat.

[JVS]

9. I always recommend that one use wooden bats when smashing electrical appliances.

[salguine]

20. Have you tried to find a wooden bat lately?

[JVS]

21. No. I own several already. Why would I need to buy a new one?

[salguine]

24. I guess you wouldn't. I would.

[TheBigotBasher]

23. Well to me hitting electric things with metal just seems a very stupid idea.

He is lucky he is not dead.

[wroberts189]

71. I believe the bottom part of some of these types of bats are "rubberized". nt

[demobabe]

96. Depends on if the metal conducts electricity.

Aluminum doesn't do that very well at all. Good thing he didn't go for the golden bats. ;)

[Lance_Boyle]

100. Que? Aluminum is a fine conductor of electricity.

Not as good as copper/gold/silver, but damn good.

[demobabe]

104. Huh.

Then I'll have to rethink the wisdom of going out in thunderstorms with my foil hat on... dang.

;)

[Sebastian Doyle]

51. Remember, this was Wal Mart.

If he had used a wooden bat from that store, it probably would have splintered on the first TV. :evilgrin:

[JVS]

72. or just burst into flames

[d_b]

18. qft

you really feel the beatdown in your hands

[zagging]

66. Maybe he never made it to the big show.

Besides, there's something to be said for the ping.

[Vickers]

99. Seriously. Give me a *THUMP!* over a *tink* ANY day.

:P

[ananda]

1. Better than taking a gun in and killing 13 people.

Can you believe I said that!!??

[Mari333]

4. yes I can , its reached that point these days...nt

[wroberts189]

69. yep nt

[LeftinOH]

98. Very good point- better to destroy appliances than peoples' lives...

if it comes right down to one or the other, that is.

[Mari333]

2. just another day in the united states

I expect to see more of this...at least he didnt murder 20 people , he only murdered a few Tvs.

[Occam Bandage]

3. God, how low our country has fallen.

Aluminum bats? Those are for little leaguers and Cubans.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

32. Don't forget college boys

Tink......

[Renew Deal]

5. Sometimes you just have to blow some steam.

:shrug:

[patrice]

6. Oh my goodness, . . . uh, . . . er . . . . . . . .

:nuke:

wow!

[n2doc]

7. No no no, its "Kill YOUR TV" not Kill THEIR TV, idiot!

Sheesh...

[Lorien]

10. Lol! Yeah, he seems a might bit confused. The current government is

trying to get him working again. He should have been pissed when BushCo was in office...but I guess he was watching too much TV then. ;-)

[Blue_Tires]

79. +1

[JVS]

8. Prole revolt!

[Dappleganger]

11. Was he protesting Walmart taking his job?

He should have used a wooden bat, those swing better.

[rucky]

17. I think he's an out of work TV Repairman

[NightWatcher]

12. Can you imagine how freaked out people would be if that happened at 50 Walmarts

a week, then 100 then more and more

I dont condone violence or destrution of......hey, at least he didnt go on a shooting rampage and HURT anyone.

[MindPilot]

14. since I work for a company that makes TVs

I think that is a damn good idea!

[malaise]

26. My exact thought n/t

[Sequoia]

97. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day, I said

fifty people a day walking in singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and
walking out. And friends they may thinks it's a movement.

http://www.arlo.net/resources/lyrics/alices.shtml

[HCE SuiGeneris]

13. Must have been Glen Beck on the TeeeVeee n/t

[saltpoint]

30. : )

:thumbsup:

[jules4truth]

15. Sounds healthy

I wouldn't advocate the destruction of property, but there is something kind of appropriate about taking your anger out on the television. Most people do it to their own TV. But at least he didn't take it out on people.

[SmileyRose]

22. A great anger therapy I witnessed once -

I have a cousin who was beat up a lot as a little kid and was absolutely emotionally paralyzed. In the course of several years of counseling aimed at getting her unparalyzed one of the therapist went out and bought 7 cases of cheap dishes - took my cousin, with me there as support - they went out behind the offices where all the dumpters sit and there is a big block wall back there. My cousin went to town throwing the dishes into the block wall, cussing up a freakin storm, crying screaming - for a good hour she just kept crashing dishes until she was exhausted.

I thought it would be a stupid exercise in futility but just the sound and feel of those dishes being destroyed and the freedom to freakin lose it did her a world of good.

[havocmom]

68. therapist pal of mine had huge cube of foam covered with canvas, and lots of bats, rackets...

also had big cloth doll-like things with arms, legs attached with velcro. He had me sit in on several of his group sessions while I was getting through a very nasty divorce. One day, it was me on the 'hot seat' armed with bats and facing that four foot cube... felt silly at first, but wow, something snapped loose. The doll got dismembered and parts went flying.... Several tennis rackets and one bat died that day.

Cried so much, I had snot down to my knees. Oh, that's why he said 'Bring a change of clothes'.

Do not remember the end of group that day. Do not remember the bus ride home. Slept REAL well that night. Sore as hell next morning when my friend called to inquire if I was OK and how much puking I had done when I got home. Aside from some really sore muscles, I felt WONDERFUL. Sun was out, birds were singing and I was noticing colors I hadn't seen in fucking months.

Amazing the poison that can come out when one is given the permission to pop and just a nudge to get over the inhibitions. But, I recommend always using the buddy system and a therapist who is good at the exercise.

I started to REALLY heal pronto, went out and learned a lot of great new stuff, tried new things and was happy on my own for a long time before I decided I wanted to meet someone worth having. Was picky and treated myself well, no bozos allowed!

That release WAS a real help. It does do a world of good. Glad you were there for your cousin. Like I said, the buddy system helps when one is really going to drop all the facades of civility and give the pain a release.

[The River]

16. Bitter Batter Up

Sixteen strikes and you're out!

[flvegan]

19. How productive.

Unemployed, now likely unemployable. And further in debt. And need a lawyer. I could go on.

I feel for the guy, but damn.

[LeftyMom]

61. Well, he's going to have free housing and meals for years after this

which may well have been the idea. :shrug:

[ejpoeta]

85. i doubt that was the idea. but then again, i doubt the guy thought past

the bat to use.

[liberalmuse]

25. At least he picked a store where tv's are cheap.

Really, he could have hurt someone, but he didn't. He damaged a bunch of inatimate objects. It's not that I'm condoning vandalism, but given the news these days, this story is almost a comic relief.

[csziggy]

43. He should have gone to a recycling facility and asked permission to smash

Up the old tube TVs being turned in. They probably wouldn't have minded, he wouldn't have a police record, and wouldn't owe $13,000. But obviously he was not planning ahead...

[saltpoint]

27. Legal consequences aside, I kind of admire the "Den of Thieves" moment

at play here.

His lawyer could present the case as a public service initiative, citing studies that television programming incites uh, violence, in the general population, etc.

Kinda wobbly, but we have to work with what we have.

[Boojatta]

74. "Kinda wobbly, but we have to work with what we have."

:rofl:

[saltpoint]

86. Hi, Boojatta.

And a happy springtime to you.


:hi:

[merh]

28. better a large screen t.v. than some innocent bystander or family

member but still, that is pretty extreme. What message does beating a t.v. send? Wouldn't a small t.v. have sent the same message as the big, expensive one?

[aikoaiko]

29. I would make a joke about ammo shortages and scarcity, but it would be unappreciated.

;)

[david13]

31. He was mad as hell and he was not going to take it anymore. n/t

[DearAbby]

33. ... expressed anger at the government

Well, its better than getting a gun and shooting up the place...It's gettin crazy out there folks.

[Fuzz]

34. Police say a Pittsfield man "having a bad day" No, really?

[Boojatta]

76. Alternatively, twenty-six could be the new two.

Given that the terrible twos continue for much more than one day, the "having a bad day" explanation is not only plausible, but an example of positive thinking. May the optimism be with you.

[saltpoint]

35. In the man's defense, though, haven't we all been there? Be truthful:

Whenever any of us has a bad day, don't we resolve the frustration by smashing merchandise to bits in our local retail stores?

I know I do. And darn it, I feel a whole lot better afterward.

[Hannah Bell]

37. not his "local" store. Walmart globo-store.

one of the reasons he doesn't have a job.

[saltpoint]

38. Your disputation is noted.

It was a joke, HB. Try to get over it.

[Hannah Bell]

39. i made an impersonal comment. your snark = unwarranted.

[saltpoint]

40. Sorry. You've misread the thread, Hannah.

Which is not that unusual for you with threads here, actually.

You've been tone-deaf for a good many hundreds of them or so.

Keep up the good work.

[Hannah Bell]

41. your snark = unwarranted & personal attack = against DU rules.

[saltpoint]

42. Don't forget my jay-walking. I'm notorious at that, too.

[Hannah Bell]

44. your snark = unwarranted.

[saltpoint]

45. Well, what a disappointment. I just ordered an entire shipment of

snark, and they're unloading it out in the garage as we speak.

Darn the luck, Hannah, huh?

But at least you sprang from your hospital bed in time to scold me, lest I further offend your sensibilities. I hope your recovery continues. Humorectomies can be just awful. But by god, we're all rootin' for ya. Hang in there.

[Hannah Bell]

46. your snark = unwarranted. your original comment = not especially humorous.

my response = impersonal commentary.

[saltpoint]

50. Well yick yick yawhoo. Give me your solution to the assailant's problem, then.

As you appear to be as pure as the driven snow, Hannah, why not lay out a big-time, all-points solution to his problem? We're all counting on you.

To begin with, he took a bat and smashed retail merchandise.

Correct me if I'm wrong on that.

Second, that happens to be illegal.

Third, it would be my very best hunch that the assailant is not the only soul pinched by hard times or suffering therefrom. Again, if you have contradicting data, by all means share them.

Next, I'm not seeing where it matters much if he smashed televisions in a Wal-Mart or torched the produce section at a local grocer's. Your comment on "globo" entities is well beside the point.

Last, I don't care if you like my humor or not. I really don't. But you misread this entire thread and slathered it over with your special blend of strident histrionics. One of your trademark responses on DU.

[Hannah Bell]

52. your perception = your bias. there were no histronics, nor was there

any comment on "the entire thread".

your snark = unwarranted.

[saltpoint]

53. I give a thumbs-up to a strong anti-Glenn Beck remark upthread.

Are you up in arms over that also?

And how will all the rest of us know what offends you, Hannah? You should maybe put up a website with strict rules and regulations.

Otherwise we as a people are a lost tribe.

[Hannah Bell]

57. what offended me was the immediate resort to personalism. i have no problem with folks

who disagree with my opinions. your first comment to me was to "get over" something you imagined i was thinking or feeling.

it was unwarranted. if you thought i'd misinterpreted you, you could have said so without the snark. nothing you've said since has changed my initial evaluation of your comment & the motivation for it.

[saltpoint]

58. I'll repeat it, then, so you can reconsider the issue.

Get over it.

By which I mean you expressly, as in You.

Get over it.

It was a jokey-woke. Lighten up.

[Hannah Bell]

60. 1) yours wasn't a joke. jokes have a funny punchline. yours was just a not-especially humorous

sarcastic comment.

you made your comment, i made mine.

i don't think an unemployed man shooting up a store is particularly humorous. i think it is interesting he choose walmart & tvs. you may have a different opinion, but your different opinion is not a warrant for personal attack.

your snark was unwarranted. i did not make any personal remarks about you.

[saltpoint]

62. Well there's certainly no accounting for taste.

[Boojatta]

75. Why couldn't it have been his local retail store within a global chain?

I would expect a typical store (even one that is part of a chain of stores) to be local for someone, unless the corporate headquarters is in the habit of creating new stores on very small, isolated islands that have no residents.

[Hannah Bell]

88. a chain is never local. not managed locally, most of the profits move elsewhere.

[Boojatta]

90. Who said anything about a CHAIN being local?

A big sub-thread started when the following...

Whenever any of us has a bad day, don't we resolve the frustration by smashing merchandise to bits in our local retail stores?

provoked you to raise the objection...

not his "local" store.

Now you want to talk about management and profits, but looking back at the excerpt that provoked the sub-thread...

Whenever any of us has a bad day, don't we resolve the frustration by smashing merchandise to bits in our local retail stores?

... I find it difficult to see any hint that the hypothetical stores in question are anything but in or near the neighborhoods of the hypothetical people who resolve frustration by smashing merchandise. I certainly don't see any way to extract any claim about management or profits.

[Hannah Bell]

91. the store he smashed tvs in was walmart. not a local store.

and your comment, to which i responded, uses the word "chain".

[Boojatta]

93. Yes, in my comment to which you responded, I used the word "chain."

Now, can you tell me who said anything about a chain being local?

Also, how do you know that the particular store in which he was smashing TVs wasn't in his neighborhood?

[bumblebee1]

77. I've had one of those days.

Didn't take a bat to a television set in a store though. I had dreams of hitting my supervisor in the back of his head until he was dead. I would use a steel pipe. Two seconds later, I realized that I'd probably go to prison for the rest of my life or be lethally injected. I thought better of the first thought.

[oxygen destroyer]

92. Wow, that's messed up.

Most people just daydream about braining their boss and desecrating the body and get on with whatever they have to do. It's no big deal.

[Politicalboi]

102. 9 to 5 is on AMC tonight

LOL!

[lunatica]

36. Good way to have the government provide food and shelter in jail

No need to be employed. I bet there are many people considering this alternative

[BlooInBloo]

47. (shrug) Local news.

[ejpoeta]

87. i think of all those small house fires that i see on the cable news

with the words 'breaking news' emblazened at the bottom. a housefire in atlanta for no apparent reason is national news. i always figure it must be a slow news day. 'local news' only applies when there is bigger news to cover.

[Deja Q]

48. Street price or wholesale price? It costs rather less to Walmart than it does their customers.

That's not to suggest he was doing anything appropriate, good heavens... then again, Walmart does a lot of inappropriate things too (pay workers shit little and then bitch about taxes and then bitch about paying workers and then bitch over welfare... they just love to bitch.)

[Boojatta]

73. The street value of those TVs -- when expressed per gram -- was relatively low either way.

[Cha]

49. I hope that bad day didn't have

anything to do with lack of monetary funds!

[demwing]

54. Maybe he was TRYING to get arrested

3 hots and a cot? Not a bad goal for the unemployed.

[Enrique]

55. he heard Obama was going to take his bat away

and make basketball the American pastime.

[saltpoint]

56. LOL!

[SecularMotion]

59. That's how they roll in Pittsfield

"Baseball's Garden of Eden"

http://www.pittsfield-ma.org/subpage.asp?ID=226

[saltpoint]

63. Just to say so, I long ago bought a hair brush in Pittsfield, and lost it.

It was a pretty good brush but I lost it. Shame on me.

A bit later that week I was in nearby Lenox and bought a replacement brush at the Rexall Drugs there (is it still there?) and then dropped into the Friendly's and had a fishamajig platter with a chocolate Fribble.

Thank you.

[taterguy]

64. Where did you lose the brush?

[saltpoint]

65. It would have been somewhere between Pittsfield and Lenox, maybe in Lee.

It's probably still wherever it was lost. How far can a brush go, anyway?

In any event, that same week the gods paid me back for the lost brush by getting me tickets at Tanglewood for James Taylor and Emmylou Harris.

[taterguy]

83. I'll keep an eye out for it if I'm ever in Pittsfield

[saltpoint]

84. Thank you, taterguy. To recover it now would be a heroic find, along the

order of the Dead Sea Scrolls, no question.

Bless you.

[dustbunnie]

67. There used to be a Village Green in most places -

Since Wal-Mart has taken the place of the village green, it makes sense that he would take out his frustrations there. I sort of like it, except it's a few years too late.

[Catherine Vincent]

70. I rather he do that than shoot up the place

Only the tvs died. :)

[omega minimo]

78. An American Hero

:patriot:

[BuelahWitch]

80. My theory: he's a victim of the "digital revolution"

All his stations went digital and the little converter box he got the coupon for didn't work. Or maybe he was one whose coupon expired. Or Walmart was out of converter boxes.

The possibilities are endless...

[Contrary1]

81. Were they all tuned to Faux Snooze?

Perfectly acceptable defense.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

82. Might have been meth

I'm ALWAYS suspicious of that in shootings, domestic violence events, hold-ups. One can literally lose one's mind.

[VOX]

89. The perp's an attorney and a Skidmore College honors grad who's unemployed and homeless...

He's also been under psychiatric treatment. I expect to see more of these weird behaviors as the legacy of BushCo is felt more and more.

http://www.berkshireeagle.com/ci_12224927?source=most_viewed

Saturday, April 25
PITTSFIELD — A 26-year-old Pittsfield man accused of smashing 16 television sets with a baseball bat at Walmart on Thursday was found to be mentally competent on Friday following a court-ordered psychological evaluation.

Court Clinician J. Roger Goldin said Nicholas M. Adornetto of East Street has some psychological issues, but that he had a complete understanding of court procedure and the charges that have been lodged against him.
<snip>

A 2001 Pittsfield High School graduate, Adornetto graduated with honors from Skidmore College in Saratoga, N.Y., in 2004, before graduating from Thomas Jefferson Law School in San Diego last May, according to his attorney, Thomas M. Sherman Jr.

<snip>

Assistant District Attorney John P. Bosse had asked the court to set bail for Adornetto at $10,000 cash, $100,000 surety bond. Adornetto has a minimal criminal record, Bosse said, but had just been released from the Jones psychiatric unit at Berkshire Medical Center, and had a knife in his possession when he went to Walmart...

<snip>

[TK421]

94. Wow...talk about the news upsetting people...all he had to do was change the channe...oops

nevermind

[datasuspect]

95. it's a start

rome wasn't built in a day

[backscatter712]

101. A $13,000 fuck-you to Wal-Mart - not bad!

THAT'S how you do a tea party. Not the right-wing teabagging silliness. The key is property damage.

[JVS]

107. Imagine what it would be like if 500 people joined him at the place

[WI_DEM]

103. Great now he is unemployed, probably will go to jail and owes $13,000 plus, but...

as others mentioned at least he didn't kill anybody.

[spanone]

105. man, that sounds like fun

[Stevenmarc]

106. Sweet

[The Wielding Truth]

108. Since when did Wallyworld sell anything for $13,000. $1,300?

[jazzjunkysue]

109. I like him, already.

Now, someone set him loose with a machete in the RNC headquarters, or at least, Rush's offices.

[and-justice-for-all]

110. Well he better be pissed at shrub for his unemployment...nt

[carlyhippy]

111. he probably had to witness the associate meeting and "walmart cheer" in the aisles...

!