Matt Irwin heard loud banging and crashing coming from the front of Darrenkamp's Market in Willow Street at about 11 p.m. Friday.
Then he saw two people running away from the commotion, one of them yelling, "Call 911!" And he knew something bad was happening.
Instead of running away from the trouble, Irwin walked toward it.
And then this congenial, clean-cut 24-year-old bartender did something few people can imagine.
The East Hempfield Township resident reached out to a naked man, under the influence of alcohol and likely drugs, who was tossing chairs, breaking glass and trashing the grocery store.
The incident was caught on store cameras and the tape has been broadcast all over the country, including on NBC's "Today" show this morning.
The tape shows Irwin speaking calmly to the man. He introduced himself and shook his hand. He offered to help him.
VIDEO: Naked vandal
He admonished him when he tried to do more vandalism.
He told him, firmly, not to hurt other people in the store.
Irwin, a 2002 Dayspring Christian Academy graduate, didn't see Nicholas Hadzick as a naked guy who was running amok, he says.
With God's direction, he says, he saw someone who needed his help.
"I wanted to be his friend," Irwin says. "I think what he needed most was recognition that people cared about him, that someone was willing to meet him where he was at the time."
Today, Hadzick, 28, of Freeland, Luzerne County, is in Lancaster County Prison on $200,000 bail, facing charges of risking a catastrophe, criminal mischief, assault, open lewdness and public drunkenness.
He did about $40,000 worth of damage to Darrenkamp's and another $3,000 damage at Willow Valley Resort, where he was staying and where he began his rampage.
West Lampeter Township Police Chief James Walsh is grateful for what Irwin did. Joe Darrenkamp, an owner of the market, has called Irwin a hero.
"I praise his courage to handle himself the way he did in that situation," Walsh says. "In my observation of the scene and from information I received from officers he definitely assisted in defusing the situation."
This was the second time Irwin found himself in the middle of trouble. In 2002, he witnessed the aftermath of a fatal stabbing in the city.
"I have become calm," he says, shrugging.
Friday's commotion started after Irwin, who is the daytime bartender at the Pressroom in Lancaster, went to Darrenkamp's to buy something to eat before going to a friend's house to watch a movie.
He stayed at the store longer than he planned, changing his mind about what he wanted to eat and not being able to find the right drinks. He thinks God had a hand in that, so that Irwin would see what was happening elsewhere in the store.
When he heard the commotion, Irwin walked toward a cafe at the front of the store. That's when he saw Hadzick "who was looking for something to break," he says.
It didn't even register at first that Hadzick was naked, he says.
"All that mattered was that he needed help and I was the person that would do that for him," he says.
He and Hadzick made eye contact and Irwin said, "What's going on?"
Hadzick replied, "Peace to you, dude."
Irwin then asked him, "Why are you doing this?" and Hadzick replied, "Minimum wage, man, minimum wage."
"Where do you work?" Irwin asked Hadzick, keeping him engaged in the conversation.
"I work here," the naked man said.
Irwin considered that and said, "We can find you another job that makes more money."
Hadzick then picked up first one chair and then another and threw them across the cafe.
Irwin walked closer to Hadzick and said, "What's your name?"
Hadzick replied, "Nicholas."
Irwin said, "My name is Matt."
The two reached out at the same time and shook hands.
Something in the situation seemed to shift after that handshake.
"I had his full attention then," Irwin says, and when Hadzick went to grab another chair, Irwin said, "Don't throw that. Put it down."
"That's when we started to talk," Irwin recalls. "He said, 'I won't stop breaking things 'til I get a cigarette.' I said, 'Well, I have money and we can get you a pack of cigarettes.' "
Irwin pulled $10 out of his pocket. Hadzick told him to go get the cigarettes and bring them back to the cafe. Fearing that Hadzick would continue his rampage if he left him, Irwin suggested the naked man go with him, adding that the two could come back to the cafe afterward and talk.
Hadzick quickly walked toward the cash registers, Irwin following. On the way, Hadzick stopped to pick up a crate that was on the floor.
Fearing Hadzick was going to throw it, Irwin said firmly, "You haven't got your cigarettes yet. You can't do that."
Hadzick put down the crate and they continued onto the checkout line. A man who was paying for his groceries quickly got out of the way and Hadzick asked for a pack of Newport cigarettes.
The cashier asked another employee to get them. When Hadzick tried to pay for them, with Irwin's $10, the cashier was flustered and did not ring up the purchase.
"He got mad," Irwin said, adding that Hadzick then tried to tear a small ATM swipe machine from its post.
"I said, 'Take your hands off the system. You're not going to break it.' " Irwin recalls.
Again, Hadzick listened to Irwin, in a scene that was growing more tense and frightening as the moments passed.
"I stayed calm," Irwin said. "There's a verse in Joshua, 'If God is for us, who can be against us?' With that in mind, I went for it. I knew I was supposed to be there."
Hadzick took a cigarette, threw the pack on the ground and announced he needed a lighter. Irwin assured him they could find one somewhere and started walking toward the cafe with him.
At that point, Hadzick abruptly turned and went back to the checkout line, raising his fist against a bagger who was standing there.
"He pulled his arm back and I said, 'Put your hand down. Put your hand down. Don't touch the man,' " Irwin recalls.
Hadzick pulled his arm back several times, as if he was going to strike the man. Each time, Irwin told him to stop, his voice getting louder.
Hadzick finally stopped, saying, "You're lucky you're a good man."
The two then turned again to return to the cafe and, at that point, the police arrived.
Hadzick got on his knees and did not resist as the police handcuffed him.
Hadzick reacted differently during at least one previous brush with the law.
In April, police were called to his home in Weatherly Borough, about nine miles east of Hazleton, because he was screaming at his neighbor.
Police Chief Gary Veasie said Hadzick was highly intoxicated, got belligerent with police and then fought with an officer until he was subdued.
He was charged with making terroristic threats to both his neighbor and the policeman, simple assault, resisting arrest and other charges.
Hadzick pleaded guilty to some of the charges and was sent to Carbon County Prison. It is unclear when he was released.
Irwin says, "We mess up. Everyone does. You can't hold that against a person. What he did doesn't determine who he is. I looked past that and saw the person he was. He needed more help than we did at the time."
Irwin, who attends the Lord's House of Prayer in Lancaster, plays guitar and writes music for church.
He said the incident made him think about these phrases from a song he wrote: "Teach me to do your will. Show me the way that I should go. Cause me to find you. Make your good spirit known, because you're always there."
(Staff writer Tom Murse contributed to this report.)
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