Police arrested three men they say smashed windows and slashed tires on nine cars parked along Fort Hamilton Parkway last week — but victimized Bay Ridge motorists say that at least 10 people are responsible for the March 11 blitzkrieg.
The suspects, who are between 17 and 21-years-old, were grabbed by police when they were seen vandalizing a car between 97th Street and Marine Avenue at 1 am.
Responding officers quickly found eight other vehicles the suspects allegedly damaged, and found a discarded knife on Fort Hamilton Parkway, but police say there was no apparent motive — except, perhaps, amusement.
“I don’t see any rhyme or reason that goes along with this,” one cop from the 68th Precinct explained. “It doesn’t seem like they were after a particular person.”
Many of the vandalized cars belonged to residents living in a co-op on Fort Hamilton Parkway. Co-op Board President Danny Cregg was unaffected by the tire-slashing spree, but his neighbors weren’t so lucky, he said.
“When I came out in the morning everybody was outside changing their tires,” he said, claiming that his building’s surveillance system recorded the vandalism. Cregg reviewed the footage and counted 10 hoodlums participating in the callous attacks. The remaining seven suspects hadn’t been captured by Sunday night.
The March 11 vaopndalism was the third slash and bash spree to take place in Bay Ridge in two months. No one had been arrested in the previous incidents, and investigators have been unable to link the three suspects to any of the prior attacks, cops said.
Yet vandalized cars are becoming quite a common sight along Fort Hamilton Parkway, residents say.
“Windows are broken all the time here, it’s a disaster,” explained Tanya Zarea, who lives close to where the nine cars were vandalized. “What can be done?”
— with Will Bredderman
Reach reporter Colin MIxson at cmixson@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-4514.
