As a non-cell phone user, I found the following story of interest.  A Fargo,
north Dakota construction worker sustained so much frustration and poor
service from Verizon Wireless he decided to take matters into his own hands,
quite literally.  He entered the Fargo Verizon store with plastic safety
glasses, began hooting and hollering at verizon representatives and then
took off his shirt for some serious cell phone throwing and computer
smashing.

Currently, the only formal complaint on cell phone accessibility with the
Federal Communications commission is against Verizon wireless.  In the
several years the complaint has been outstanding, the company still refuses
to provide accessible cell phone service to the blind.

Kelly

the [Fargo, north Dakota] Forum
may 14, 2004

    Can you hear me now?

Fargo man charged in trashing cell phone store

    By Jeff Zent, The Forum

Published Friday, May 14, 2004

· Can you hear me now? Jason Perala's message got through loud and clear
to employees at a Fargo Verizon Wireless store Wednesday.

    The Fargo construction worker said he planned only to scream at the
employees at the store in West Acres mall.

    "Then I just lost it," he said in a phone interview a few hours later,
from inside the Cass County Jail.

    "I just started grabbing computers and phones and throwing them," he
said. "I just destroyed the place."

    Unreliable phones and poor service were eating away at Perala for
months, he said.
Photo caption:
    Verizon Wireless at West Acres shopping center in Fargo had to close
temporarily Thursday after a man trashed the store.
Photo credit:
Forum photo by Darren Gibbins


Jason Perala " I'm always sending money across that
counter," he said. "I'm tired of doing things their way."

    Perala's rampage began just after the cellular phone store in West
Acres shopping mall opened at 10 a.m., police said.

    A phone hurled across the store struck an employee in the shoulder
before he and other workers dashed into an office, locked the door and
called police, Fargo Police Sgt. Kevin Volrath said.

    Perala tried to open the office door, then turned his attention back
to the store's merchandise, Volrath said.

    The rampage drew a crowd while some area businesses lowered their
steel security gates, said Samantha Guthmiller, who works at a kiosk just
outside Verizon Wireless.

    Perala took off his shirt and continued to throw merchandise and
displays throughout the store, she said.

    A phone thrown from the store landed near her feet, she said.

    "I couldn't really make out what he was ranting and raving about," she
said. "The whole thing made me a little nervous."

    Guthmiller said the ruckus lasted about 10 minutes before police
arrived.

    Officers drew their taser guns and ordered Perala to the floor. He
complied and was arrested without incident, Volrath said.

    Store employees closed the store for the day and spent the afternoon
cleaning up. They declined to comment.

    Store manager Paul Terveen referred questions to the company's Chicago
office.

    Perala didn't walk into the store to settle a problem, said company
spokesman David Clevenger from Chicago. The store came under attack as
soon as he walked in, Clevenger said.

    The employee hit by a phone was not seriously injured, he said.

    Perala said he put on a pair of safety glasses before entering the
store because he thought employees could have pepper spray.

    "I was just going to scream at them, but that doesn't get anywhere,"
he said. "I didn't know what was going to happen but I knew something was
going to happen."

    Perala said he didn't intend to hit an employee and regretted that he
had.

    Volrath said the store received more than $2,000 in damages.

    Four patrol officers responded to an employee's call for help. They
arrested Perala on charges of criminal mischief, a Class C felony and
misdemeanor simple assault.

    "I started and I just couldn't stop," Perala said. "I kind of regret
that I did it, but I hope my message got across."

    Readers can reach Forum reporter Jeff Zent at (701) 241-5526


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