Teen Accused In Wild Automobile Vandalism Spree In Jersey City
JERSEY CITY, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Their neighbor went nuts!
That's what victims of an expensive vandalism spree were saying Monday night about the rampage that left their cars damaged, CBS 2's Derricke Dennis reported.
It was a vandalism headache up and down a Jersey City block. Overnight Sunday into Monday an angry man, steaming over an argument with his girlfriend, allegedly took aim at a dozen cars along Princeton Avenue, hitting one vehicle at a time, police said.
"He broke everybody's window not only mine. It was a few cars," Bozena Partyka said.
Among the damaged was a minivan, with its passenger side mirror busted, and a Nissan, which was vandalized in the middle of the night, police said.
"[Around] 4:30 to 5 in the morning, I heard my neighbor's car alarm go off, followed by a crack and a smash," neighbor Tracey Holven said.
Holven told police the suspect, identified as 19-year-old Arvel Felder, was the boyfriend of a neighboring woman. He was apparently upset over their breakup. Her family minivan had its entire rear window busted out, police said.
"Just angry because he got kicked out of his house, didn't know how to deal with his anger, so he just vandalized his own neighbors' cars," Holven said.
That neighbor saw the suspect and described him to police, who found him wandering the street of a nearby police precinct, apparently distraught over the breakup with his girlfriend. He also confessed to the vandalism spree, police said.
"Why would you do such a thing? Everybody has arguments, and has bad days, but you don't have to vandalize everybody's car," Partyka said.
That's how every neighbor with a vandalized car on that block felt on Monday – get angry, but don't get even on someone else's wheels.
Felder was charged with malicious destruction of property. Neighbor said they want restitution, Dennis reported.
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