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Alleged contender in the Dumbass of the Week competition arrested at Forest Hills

Vending machine at Forest Hills

The machine this morning with new wood bars: Yeah, somebody finally tried to rob it.

Smith

MBTA Transit Police report a Dorchester man smashed the glass front of the Best Buy vending machine at the Forest Hills T stop around 11:10 p.m. last night, put some goodies in a bag he had, then got arrested after he apparently returned for more.

Police say that on his second visit to the machine, officers were already in the station, investigating the smash-and-grab and that one began to chase Jamal Smith, 23.

According to a police report, Smith ran out of the station towards the overpass - and right into the path of an oncoming bus. Fortunately for both him and the officer following him, the alert driver managed to slow and not hit either, the report says.

According to the report, Smith made it to South Street and St. Mark Street on the other side of the overpass when a wooden stockade fence he tried to scale collapsed, dropping him to the ground and making enough noise for the pursuing officer to zero in on his location. The report says Smith surrendered only after the officer drew his gun, and that the officer recovered a pink folding knife from the vacant lot where Smith was arrested.

According to the report, on booking, officers found a shard of glass in Smith's rear pocket that matched the tint and width of the Best Buy glass.

Innocent, etc.

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Comments

It's amazing how much crime happens in Forest Hills station, given it's got a POLICE STATION. You'd never know it given how unmarked it is, but yes, there's a full MBTA 'district' stationhouse there.

(What is it with MBTA police stations being almost completely unmarked?)

Of course, they never actually patrol the station, there are no video cameras, etc.

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There are cameras at Forest Hills, the just are pointing at the gates and the T vending machines. The MBTA is not in charge of Best Buy Vending machines.

From what I remember the MBTA has a force of 100 +/- police officers, who have to patrol an area that includes all of the subway and the commuter rail.

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With all the cops needed to stand around and talk to each other inside the turnstiles at North Station as a Celtics game lets out, there's not enough manpower to go "police" other stations at odd hours.

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The police report says surveillance video shows Smith smashing and grabbing.

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Transit PD had the suspect in custody in less than 20 minutes. That's actually pretty darn impressive.

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;)

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It's a small miracle that nobody smashed it during the holiday season. I'm guessing Best Buy will pull the plug on this experiment nowish while Forest Hills continues its impersonation of a 1970s NYC subway station. Can't wait for the inevitable raid on the bike pen. Just another entry in the "why we can't have nice things" ledger.

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A vending machine hawking iPods to people who mostly can't afford them is a "nice thing?"

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Have you ever actually been to Forest Hills? As someone who moves through it daily I'd venture to say that over half the people are actually carrying an ipod with them.

What is a shuffle, $80? Even spare change guy can afford that on a good day I'm sure.

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Yes, I travel through Forest Hills regularly. The point of my comment is that I don't think it's such a loss if this machine gets taken out of the station, one less temptation to spend money unnecessarily.

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It's none of your business how others spend their money... unless you live in JP I guess.

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I always thought these machines were the stupidest idea, no matter if they were in a Macy's, an airport, or even in a T station.
Really, who walks past these machines and think, "You know, I DO need to spend $250 on an iPod RIGHT NOW."
Ugh. I agree though, it did last a good while before it was finally smashed... maybe they were waiting for a new model of camera to be loaded in?

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You think the crowd wearing $200+ sneakers can't afford an Ipod?

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Aren't any of you reading the interminable Whole Foods threads?

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Do you think that is who this machine is targeting?

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Alewife station has a Best Buy machine too. That station is used primarily by commuters who drive or take buses from affluent suburbs such as Arlington, Belmont, and Lexington, and secondarily by people working in nearby office parks.

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It's also popular with many of the people I work with who live in the city housing developments nearby. Some people have mentioned that they like the machine, since they won't go into a Best Buy or similar store because they have the impression that that kind of store operates only on a major-purchase sort of model, where they'd be required to have a credit card and would have to fill out paperwork and things to buy just headphones or something. A lot of folks with limited education and social status seem to prefer anonymous transactions where they're more certain they aren't going to receive a bill or have to give any information or anything.

Similarly, look at the whole ripoff business around pre-paid cell phones. A lot of people use them despite having sufficient income and credit to have a monthly plan and sufficient self-control to not run up the bill. Same issue; a lot of people don't understand contracts, know they don't have the skills to assert themselves if they DO get screwed over, and have only heard horror stories.

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so you really can't use it "anonymously" any more or less than you could shop in an actual Best Buy store. In the store you can be truly anonymous and pay cash.

I have one of those prepaid Tracfones. I don't consider it a "ripoff" since I use it pretty sparingly, and 'prepaid' means I only pay for minutes that I actually use.

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The folks I've talked to don't have bank accounts either (again with the word on the street that banks charge you tons of fees and none of it makes sense) mostly use those cards that you load cash onto when they need a credit card to make a purchase.

I'm thinking of people who use prepaid phones for talking and texting all day and who spend hundreds of dollars per month on "minutes" rather than having a cell-phone plan. Then they run out and don't have any money so you can't reach them. Most people also don't seem to register their phone, so when it gets stolen or drowns or whatever, they can't get the number back and don't have anyone's contact information. This happens so much that the program where I work has a form letter for sending out to people without working numbers to tell them to call us.

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Eeka,

You might look into google voice as an alternative for them... You can set up a number that rings your other numbers, and emails / texts you a rough transcript of messages. You can log in and check your messages from any computer. That way if they lose their phone they can have the google voice ring the new phone without changing their contact info.

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I picketed that vending machine when they put it in. It's really gentrified the station.

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I'm going to hoist a banner translated into Spanish.

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That old vending machine may have been 1/3 full most of the time, had potato chips nobody liked and candy bars that were discontinued in 1993, but it brought character to the station.

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..its iPods won't play ANY salsa music.

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They've agreed to examine all of the potato chips and candy bars to see if they can find a place for them in their new machine. On top of that, the old vendor decided to take his machine back and lease the space to Best Buy so it's not THEIR fault.

Besides, look at all the money some "grassroots" (NOT LIKELY!) group has to have spent on this protest website that wants the old days back! What a pile of astroturf, amirite??

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The real news here is a bus driver paying attention.

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A pink knife? WTF, dude?!

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Why not steal, rob etc...

This guy just got arrested again ysdy.
No matter what you do, you'll be back on the streets in no time.

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