A quintet of teenage ruffians allegedly wreaked havoc at Marine Park Golf Course on Sunday night — vandalizing seven golf carts and causing at least $100,000 worth of damage, according to an employee.
“[The cost] is probably going to be significant,” Michael Giordano, the golf course’s general manager, told Brooklyn Paper. “It’ll probably be at least six figures by the time we finish.”
Police responded to a 9 pm emergency call claiming young people were riding golf carts along the neighborhood’s residential roads — raising suspicion from neighbors, according to Giordano.
“That is where some of our customers live, and they saw the carts there after dark,” Giordano said. “That was not a normal sight so they called 911.”
Upon arrival, officers encountered a group of five teenagers who then disembarked the motorized golf caddies and led police on a foot chase to the Kings Plaza parking garage, where authorities eventually apprehended one 16-year-old boy from Queens.
New York’s Finest slapped the juvenile with charges of burglary, grand larceny, criminal mischief, obstruction of governmental administration, reckless endangerment, trespassing and criminal trespassing.
Giordano said the vandals snuck onto the Flatbush Avenue property some time Sunday evening and wrecked the caddies, while also damaging maintenance equipment. The total price of damage to the course has yet to be determined.
The destruction strikes the golf course at an especially tough time as the statewide closure of all nonessential businesses in March due to the ongoing pandemic has resulted in a total loss of income for the fairway over the last two months.
“Without any revenue, it’s very difficult to absorb further expenses,” Giordano told Brooklyn Paper.
Giordano suspects operating a higher volume of golf carts will be crucial to the course reopening in compliance with social distancing guidelines, leaving owners with little choice but to foot the bill to repair or replace the damaged fleet.
“When we do, carts are going to be critical and unfortunately we lose the carts we lose more revenue,” Giordano said. “It is never a good time for this but it is particularly problematic now.”
Additional reporting by Arthur de Gaeta