Cops: Mt. Pleasant Township man attacked workers with baseball bat over rental TV

A 55-year-old Mt. Pleasant Township man was so angry when two workers arrived to pick up an 82-inch television he had rented that he attacked them with a metal baseball bat, police said.

State police say Gene R. Overly fled the scene after the Saturday afternoon incident, but eventually was apprehended by troopers.

Trooper Zachary Wolford said in court documents that the Rent-A-Center workers arrived in a van to pick up the television but, when they knocked on Overly’s door, he greeted them with a 30-inch metal baseball bat and began swinging.

Wolford reported that one of the workers was hit with the bat and “shoved onto concrete steps,” causing bruising and swelling above one of her eyes. She required treatment at Excela Health Frick Hospital in Mt. Pleasant.

Police said, after the initial assault, the second worker jumped into the van, which Overly repeatedly hit with the bat.

The bat was seized as evidence. Overly is charged with aggravated assault, flight to avoid prosecution, possessing instruments of crime, simple assault and harassment.

He was released on $50,000 unsecured bond following his arraignment Sunday before Export District Judge Charles R. Conway.

A person who answered the telephone at Overly’s residence Monday said he had no comment.