A male prankster has been arrested in connection with a social media post involving the spraying of pesticides on produce and other foods at a Mesa Walmart store.

According to police, Charles Smith, 27, entered the Walmart at 1955 S. Stapley Dr. on Dec. 19 intending to film pranks for social media platforms.

Instead, police said Smith grabbed a can of Hot Shot Ultra Bed Bug and Flea Killer from a shelf without paying for it and then sprayed the pesticide on various vegetables, fruit and rotisserie chickens that were available for purchase.

Smith recorded his face, the pesticide can and the act of him spraying its contents. He later posted the recording online.

    • queermunist she/her@lemmy.mlEnglish
      82·
      2 days ago

      So… do you think he was a customer, and they just haven’t found out yet?

      Like you said, it shouldn’t be hard to find out. Therefore, he almost certainly wasn’t a customer. They’d know.

        • NutWrench@lemmy.mlEnglish
          6·
          2 days ago

          United already has a serious public image problem with their 30%-35% claim denial rate.

          How much worse would it be if they said, “yeah, Luigi’s back problems could have been easily fixed by surgery, but we decided to deny that claim and put him on painkillers for the rest of his life.” They’d be admitting that one of their many fark-ups got their CEO killed. And that’s not going to help their case if this ever goes to trial.

          • theUwUhugger@lemmy.worldEnglish
            42·
            1 day ago

            I am not an american so I wouldn’t know, but surely your police force wouldn’t lie in the interest of a company, would it?

            Or like, there would be massive legal backlash if the company disclosed false info to the police, no?

            What is going on over the great puddle?

            • inv3r5ion@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
              1·
              13 hours ago

              You can’t be serious are you being serious right now??? Assuming this wasn’t sarcasm the police here lie all the time and it’s perfectly legal for them to do so.

              If you ever come here for a visit, trust no one, trust nothing, don’t believe anything you hear or see and definitely don’t talk to the cops.

              • theUwUhugger@lemmy.worldEnglish
                1·
                11 hours ago

                To convince someone confess on themselves or to cover their asses? Sure! But its not like on the hearing the defense wouldn’t be able to easily prove whether he was or not, no?

                I do not believe that they would lie just on a conference(?)!

            • rumba@lemmy.zipEnglish
              6·
              1 day ago

              police force wouldn’t lie

              Absolutely corruptible. That lie wouldn’t even be expensive. Company puts in a call to execs running the police, they say how they want it to go down, make promises for money/power/favor, trickles down through the ranks.

              massive legal backlash if the company disclosed false info

              The feds didn’t even pay the reward and there was no backlash. We don’t get together well and protest over things that don’t affect us individually. Even the left is shit at it. We expect them to lie. If someone produces proof he was with them, they’ll just plain plausible deniability or individual incompetence.

              Corporations own our political landscape on both sides. The judges, the police, everyone is running with a level of autonomy, wiggle room as you will, but when they need a narrative fed, it’s easy. Only 60% of us even believe the truth, feeding a few lies is simple.

        • queermunist she/her@lemmy.mlEnglish
          5·
          2 days ago

          That’s just how cops talk. Police are trained to speak as vaguely as possible in order to not give the defense any ammunition. If they say “he was not a customer” then the defense can use that in the trial, and why would they want to help the defense?

          Now answer my question. Do you think he was a customer, and they just haven’t found out yet?

          • theUwUhugger@lemmy.worldEnglish
            11·
            2 days ago

            How on the bloody earth would assassinating his character help his defense? Maybe if they were lying, that could help I guess?

            He is either ought to be, or he is a set up! It is very suspicious that after a week of headless panicking they found the suspect with the murder weapon and an apparently false paper explaining that he did it

      • Hello Hotel@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        2 days ago

        They are not giving a definitive answer and merly giving their (less legally binding) professional opinion. Its like they dont want to know or publish an absolute.