GREENFIELD — One of the cars damaged during a vandalism spree downtown was a van owned the Upper Pioneer Valley Veterans’ Services used for outreach to area veterans.
A recent police report related that early Tuesday morning officers arrested Turners Falls resident Jameson Bednarski, 29, for vandalizing four cars, including the service’s van. Bednarski was with an unnamed woman who wasn’t arrested.
“We are now without this for a while until the glass is replaced and the body damage is repaired,” Director Timothy Niejadlik said Thursday about the inconvenience. He said a witness saw Bednarski throw a boulder at the vehicle twice, the second time shattering a window and badly denting the side.
“It was about an 8 pound rock — he threw it so hard that it went through the driver’s side window and hit the passengers side door,” Niejadlik continued, noting that the van was clearly marked as a veterans’ service vehicle.
While the town-owned van is insured, repairs could take weeks to complete.
In the meantime, Niejadlik said agents will be using their personal vehicles for weekly meetings and home visits to veterans — which he said poses a real inconvenience because the majority of the organization’s staff works part-time.
The organization’s service area covers all of Franklin County, from Plainfield to Leverett, Rowe to Warwick. Because of the district’s size, Niejadlik said workers “put about 1,000 miles per month on the van.”