‘Belligerent' Man Banned From Bremerton Store

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BREMERTON

Bremerton Police were called to the Safeway store on Callow Avenue on Sunday at 8:17 p.m. after a store manager reported a man was being "belligerent" and causing a scene.

An officer pulled into the store's parking lot and saw a 39-year-old Bremerton man standing outside, "wildly flailing" his arms. The officer's report noted it appeared the man was either drunk or had a mental health condition.

When the officer talked to the man, he said he had Asperger's syndrome, according to the report. He also had a cart full of groceries in front of him, although he said he brought the groceries to the store. Safeway employees confirmed the man hadn't stolen any items from the store.

The employees told officers they felt threatened by the man, who while he was in the store, walked up close to them and spoke to them in a "threatening" manner, according to the report.

The man was banned from the store for one year

Idiots like that give Aspergers a bad name. Aspergers also doesn't make people take groceries TO the store. He is probably a tweaker.

Wait a minute ... who said he has Asperger's now? He's probably just a loony or a tweaker.

Maybe he really was belligerent. It's certainly possible for an Aspie to be belligerent. God knows I can be belligerent in spite of myself.

ah. . come on, who here has not taken a stand about something and frightened other people?

Merle

It may be that the Belligerent Man looked like a "Basket Person" - a street bum who pushes all of his or her belongings around in a stolen shopping cart ("trolley" to you Brits). There is a great deal of prejudice against basket people, especially around here, where tourism is a major industry. This prejudice leads to fear and anger directed at the basket person. Most learn to leave their carts out of sight when they have to go into a store.

I suspect that he may have just been trying to panhandle for spare change, and to do that he had to get close enough to touch. It can be terrifying to have a Charles Manson look-alike suddenly take an interest in you.

Isn't it possible that his mannerisms and tone of voice were misinterpreted as threatening? I know I've terrified some people without meaning to. The man apparently said himself that he has Asperger's, and I don't see why that couldn't explain what happened.

Does it have to be something else? What drug or mental health condition would you blame?

There is always more to the story. What exactly did he do that was threatening? That is the information we are missing. And why was he waving his arms? Was he trying to get someone's attention or was it one of his stims? Another piece of information we're missing. And why did he bring the groceries to the store?

These are all good questions, however you notice none of them were answered by the news story. Probably none of them were asked by the police, the store manager or the reporter.
I have a suspicion, although I can't prove it, that the man with Asperger's was trying to TELL them the answers to those questions no body asked and . . .well, I am sure we can all relate.

Out there on the street, they don't ask many questions, they just stop (arrest) what they see as belligerent actions. Goodness knows, we can be belligerent!

Merle

It's kind of interesting how many "punished for Asperger's" threads show up here.