Walter Neal Thompson apparently doesn’t take no for an answer.
The 29-year-old Albertville, Alabama man was hauled to jail last Tuesday after he allegedly attempted to rent a room at Guntersville’s Overlook Inn and was turned away by the owner because he didn’t have proper identification, AL.com reports.
P.C. Patel, the owner and manager, told police Thompson filled out the paperwork to rent a room but claimed to have forgot his driver’s license in a vehicle that dropped him off at the hotel. When Patel told Thompson he couldn’t rent a room without identification, “he got crazy,” the manager told police.
Thompson allegedly emptied two fire extinguishers in the lobby, then went out to the parking lot and commandeered a blow torch from a construction truck parked nearby for road construction work, Fox 12 reports.
“Thompson went back to the motel and broke out the glass of the front office. He then stuck the flame thrower in through the broken window, trying to catch the office on fire,” according to the news site.
When Thompson was unsuccessful, Patel claims he returned to the construction site and attempted to light a work truck on fire, WAFF reports.
Guntersville police arrived as the deranged man was trying to set the truck ablaze, arrested him for first-degree arson, and eventually booked him into the Marshall County Jail.
“An investigator said there was no fire damage to the building but it did have the broken window plus damage and cleanup from the extinguishers,” AL.com reports. “He said there were char marks on the construction truck.”
Several commenters online who allege to know Thompson contend he’s as crazy as he seems.
“Believe it or not I actually know this clown,” garrenn posted to AL.com. “My sister was married to him for almost five years. Put my family in a lot of hell and is one of my motivations for moving across the country. My sister has a restraining order on him and she’s in the process of getting a divorce.”
“Glad to see this bozo has finally got a felony charge against him,” garrenn added.
“I know that man and he’s an idiot,” Katie Tidwell wrote on the WAFF site.
Others believe Thompson may have gotten exactly what he wanted.
“That’s one way to get a place to sleep for the night … or several nights,” Sharon Nugent wrote.
“Sounds like the guy was just determined to get a room,” Ian Brannick posted. “He was successful.”
“At least he found a place to sleep for the night,” wrote brian039.
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