Monday, March 27, 2017

Is This A Practical Joke Or Something Weirder? Nails Propped Up Against Car Tires On Second Street In Carroll Gardens

oo
Untitled
Untitled

A resident of Carroll Gardens got quite a surprise when walking up to his car on Second Street yesterday.  Someone had strategically positioned nails around the tires of the vehicle to obviously cause a flat.  Of course, it could have caused more serious harm.

The resident reached out to PMFA to warn others in the neighborhood. Here is an account of what happened:
"At approximately 8 am on Sunday, March 26th, several nails were found surrounding both the rear tires of a grey Jeep Wrangler. The vehicle had been parked overnight in front of 13 2nd Street, between Smith and Hoyt.

The nails were positioned at 45 degrees in both front and back of each rear tire, in a way that any unassuming, hurried driver on their morning commute would have quickly punctured both.

The owner of the vehicle discovered the threatening set-up when checking the right rear tire, which was found to be low on air the previous afternoon.

A police report was filed, due to the nature of the harassment; the perpetrator seemed intent on causing harm to the owner's property, but also had complete disregard for the owner's personal safety behind the wheel."

Pardon me for asking, but is this someone's idea of a practical joke?  Is this about the lack of parking in the neighborhood?  Has anyone else experienced something similar?
Please reach out and let us know. And please spread the word.


12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just targeted the Jeep? Sounds like a scorned lover or revenge for taking a prime parking spot.

Joao said...

Technically speaking, it shouldn't work. The nails would just fall over as they hit the pavement. They would need to be placed at a very specific angle (somewhere between 45 and 90 degrees) for the nails to get pushed in. But assuming the person who put them there didn't realize that, it is no joke. It wouldn't necessarily flatten the tire right away if it were to work, but it could easily cause a blowout at speed. Causing harm not not only the people in the vehicle, but bystanders as well.

Anonymous said...

Is this a deliberate malicious act to a single car owner? Or is this just a general malicious act? It really is so disturbing. And it is so hard to tell. Is someone so protective of this parking spot on 2nd St that they would actually dare to venture out, presumably in the middle of the night, to do such a thing? If yes has Carroll Gardens has become just another random place where people do not give a --it about each other? That would be a terrible. thing.

Anonymous said...

This is interesting as I live in the same area and I've had nails found in my tires several times the last year or so. I thought maybe I pissed someone off somehow but a neighbor told me that the fix-a-flat places pay people to put nails in tires of cars parked nearby so that they get the business. Don't know if there's any truth to that. May have just been a coincidence or from nails scattered on the streets from all the homes being renovated in Carroll Gardens.

Anonymous said...

A couple of weeks ago, a homeowner had the front of her SUV torched in front of her home. The front hood burned and the front bumper, made of plastic, melted black. She came out in the afternoon (3-5pm) to find it like that. Did anyone hear the outcome of that?

Katia said...

Had not heard about that. Any idea where the SUV was parked?

Anonymous said...

I park my car near Hoyt and Union, and a few weeks ago one of my tires had two nails driven into it. I'll definitely check around the tires before pulling out from now on.

MrsSam said...

Greetings Katia,

My first thoughts were what Anonymous 12:36 pm said. What a disgrace! Outrageous to do such a thing! Time to put out cameras people, if you can.

Rob said...

From what I remember patching a tire was anywhere between 10 and 20 bucks so it seems such a low margin to bother popping tires to increase business.

I hate to be that guy but my first guess is kids?

Although, I wouldn't rule out people who think they own the parking spots in front of their buildings. Some people do get really aggressive with that.

Kim said...

I park in Cobble Hill/Carroll gardens usually near Smith st. (car moves around thanks to alternate side). Had a slow leak in my tires so took it in to find that both front tires had nails in them. Pretty disturbing if this is the reason why.

Anonymous said...

Live in the neighborhood too. I've had several slow leaks over the past few years which have been caused by nails. Last time they found three nails (one in one tire and two in another). I had thought it was just because of all the construction that seems to be happening all the time in our neighborhood, but in light of this I'm thinking it's probably kids.

Anonymous said...

Unrelated to this post, but FYI---Brooklyn Farmacy was one of the winners in the US Supreme Court decision on credit card fees this week (see page 8, which mentions the ice cream joint https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/16pdf/15-1391_g31i.pdf).