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Rhode Island Woman Sics Pit Bulls on TV Reporter

The best way to handle a reporter who you don’t want to speak to is a simple “no comment,” followed by walking inside and closing the door. The worst way is to hurl a rock at the cameraman, grab a metal bat, and order your pit bulls to attack the reporter. This is the approach that Melissa Lawrence took when ABC Providence reporter Abbey Niezgoda came to her home.

To be as sympathetic as possible, Lawrence was probably on edge after her 16-year-old daughter was shot by a neighbor on Sunday night at a graduation party at her home (she survived). Who knows how many reporters have shown up at her home and shoved microphones in her face during the last few days? There’s obviously no justification for lashing out the way she did, but you can at least understand why someone might be emotionally unstable in a situation like that. In fact, it’s surprising this sort of thing doesn’t happen more often.