Oakland Gardens, Queens Residents Fit To Be Tied With Repeated Car Vandalism
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Cars are being vandalized in a Queens neighborhood, and residents say it has been going on for months – all on one specific street.
As CBS2's Erin Logan reported, a vandal or vandals are clearly making their mark on more than a few cars on a small stretch of 75th Avenue in Oakland Gardens, Queens.
"There were like five or six cars in a row where somebody just keyed it from the front to the back," said Nerry Nayzov.
Nayzov said that was back in May, and that was when he started to get aggravated. His Acura was keyed in November outside the Windsor Co-Op housing, and he had hoped it was a onetime incident – but he realized it was not.
"Nothing was done in the first place," Nayzov said.
After hearing from the other victims, Nayzov started walking the street, taking pictures of all the damaged cars.
He then sent an email on May 13 to a co-op board member, with the photos attached. He stated: "I understand there are limits as to what can be done. But perhaps if others are aware, there can be some resolution to this kind of routine vandalism."
To date Sunday, he has never gotten a response. And to make matters worse, he says his wife's car was keyed on June 21.
"When her car was vandalized, there were other people's cars vandalized. At that point, I proceeded to call the cops and told them what happened," Nayzov sad. "At that point, we saw an elderly man who scratched my neighbor's car right in front of me -- while police were on scene."
Police arrested that man immediately, and Nayzov thought the problem was solved. But the vandals did not stop there.
Two and a half weeks later, more cars were damaged. CBS2 counted at least three on one side of the street, and even more on the other side.
The owner of a maroon sport-utility vehicle and a black Nissan Maxima were also saying "enough is enough" Sunday.
Paul Guterman and his wife did not even realize their Maxima was damaged until Sunday night. They asked why everyone was hovering over the cars – and then sure enough, they saw the answer.
"Both the driver's side and passenger's side door has a nice key mark all the way across -- a lot of damage done to the car," Guterman said. "It's a very juvenile thing to do. I can't imagine a normal person would go and do this for kicks."
Neighbors said police and housing security may have been helpful, but security cameras captured an image of the person may be the only answer.
It is still unclear whether all the incidents in the neighborhood are connected.
