Vicious Vandals Violate Vehicles Across UWS

Sometime in the darkness of Saturday evening March 2 and Sunday morning March 3, multiple cars had their tires and windows smashed along Riverside Drive and West End Avenue between the West 80s and West 100s had their tires slashed,

These attacks, first reported in the feisty neighborhood blog, West Side Rag, come just two weeks after more than 10 cars parked on Riverside Drive from West 96th to West 104th Streets had their windows smashed. The exact number of vehicles damaged is uncertain because not everyone reports the vandalism to NYPD.

According to West Ride Rag reader Madeleine Fritz, “All of them had [their] passenger side window smashed and it looked like they were riffling through the glove compartment boxes and column... It seemed like a luck of the draw type of situation.”

NOT AN UWS ISSUE ALONE, COP CARS IN CHELSEA ALSO VANDALIZED

Lest any angry Upper West Siders feel they are being uniquely targeted, on March 4, down in Midtown South / Chelsea, 19 police vehicles parked the NYPD Traffic Control Division building at 130 W. 30th Street had their tires slashed by a still unidentified madman.

AND THEN, THE UWS ATTACKED AGAIN

Then, barely 24 hours after this attack on New York’s finest, approximately twelve privately owned cars suffered similar violence in the early morning hours of Wednesday March 6 on West 68th between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue.

The malicious incident was reported later that day on the valuable neighborhood blog, I Love The Upper West Side (ILTUWS).

According to the West 68th Street Block Association President Shaen Begleiter, who local residents contacted about the crimes, among the damaged vehicles were a Jeep Wrangler; a Jeep Cherokee; a blue Volkswagen; and a silver Nissan and included vehicles with license plates from New York, South Carolina and California.

Similarly, there seemed to be no consistent target—both front and rear and driver and passenger side tires were attacked.

“I’ve seen no history of this kind of behavior on the street before, and my relationship with the block goes back to 1979,” told ILTUWS.

Begleiter’s own vehicle was unharmed during these slashings, which the block President speculates may have been committed by more than one person as different tires appear to have been punctured with different weapons.

While NYPD had no information on these 68th Street tire attacks at press time, all readers, in all areas of Manhattan, are urged to contact their local precinct should their vehicle— or any other property—be vandalized.

THE POLICE—AND YOUR NEIGHBORS—NEED YOUR HELP

As infuriating as it to be a victim, and as frustrating as it can sometimes be to deal with the police, it’s for everyone’s greater good that such crimes are reported both to them and the office of your City Council Member. Such reports are the only tool the police, pols and the community have to combat such miscreants.

Even if police fail to bring them to justice this time, perhaps knowing that they are hunted criminals will discourage the next vandal.