A vandal went on a tire-slashing rampage overnight on Monday, stranding more than three dozen cars on 71st and 72nd streets — and residents say that the carnage came a day after a Park Slope tire shop plastered the area with business cards.
Neighbors on the block between Third Avenue and Ridge Boulevard said that the vandals slashed at least one tire on up to 40 cars 24 hours after business cards for Danny’s Rims Tires and Accessories were placed on dozens of car windshields.
“It could just be coincidental, but it’s kind of fishy,” said one neighbor who declined to be identified because he feared retaliation by whoever was behind the tire slashings. “Most times, it’s just some kid and they hit one tire. But this time, they did it so that you can’t just throw a spare on.”
Neighbors agreed that the carnage was too widespread to be the work of teens out having fun.
“This was either a nut or someone from another area trying to drum up business,” said Jack McLoughlin, who ended up forking over $250 on new tires for vintage Mercedes at the 67th Street Tire Corp. between Fourth and Fifth avenues. “You’re not going to get a lot of business doing this kind of thing.”
Cops said that they were looking into the connection between the slashings and the cards for the shop on Fourth Avenue between 11th and 12th streets.
“We are aware that there were some cards found on the area,” said Captain Richard DiBlasio. “The 6-8 detective squad has an open investigation on that.”
The slashings left locals fuming over wasting an entire morning getting their tires fixed.
“I was really mad. I’m still mad. I’m getting two used tires, but it’s costing $110 — plus I lost a half a day’s work,” said Hamdi Asad, who said that a neighbor rang his doorbell at 5 am to tell him that the block was hit overnight by vandals.
The brother of the tire shop’s owner flatly refused any connection.
“It’s got to be a bad coincidence,” said Jolio Moran. “We don’t pay people to slash tires. It’s frustrating that people would even think we would do something like that. We don’t even specialize in fixing flats. Our main thing is [selling] rims.”
The shop pays two men to distribute the cards, he said.
“My brother would never send people out to slash tires knowing that they’re going to come back here,” he said.
Local pols were incensed by the crime.
“We have a zero tolerance for such acts of vandalism in the Bay Ridge community and we will catch those who did this and see that they are prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” said state Sen. Marty Golden (R–Bay Ridge), a former cop.
— with Colin Mixson
Reach reporter Dan MacLeod at dmacleod@cnglocal.com or by calling him at (718) 260-4507. You can also follow his Tweets at @dsmacleod.
