Dozens of West Urbana residents awoke Monday morning to discover one or more flat tires on vehicles parked in the neighborhood.  Urbana Police began receiving calls early morning, and by late afternoon, the number of documented cases had exceeded one hundred (and some cases may have not yet been reported).  The destruction is assumed to be the work of just one vandal, who worked “dusk to dawn”, according to Police Chief Bryant Seraphin.

According to a witness, just after 3am the vandal walked slowly and casually through the neighborhood moving from car to car.  The vandal targeted cars parked on the street and even walked up driveways and into parking lots.  He used a cordless drill to methodically puncture the tires on one or both sides of a vehicle.  The perpetrator was 5’ 11”, wore dark pants, dark shoes, a dark coat with a lighter hooded sweatshirt underneath, and carried a light colored satchel which he used to store the drill.  The witness said the drill had a light and was likely a newer brushless model.

Comprehensive insurance coverage would generally cover this type of damage, but not everyone has that level of coverage.  Since most or all of the vehicles had two or more tires punctured, simply installing a spare tire and driving to an auto shop was not an option, so many victims incurred towing costs.  One resident who had two of his tires punctured said that while his insurance covered towing the vehicle, he would have to spend $500 out of pocket to replace the tires.  Since the punctures were in the sidewall of the tires, patching the holes is not considered a safe repair.

The destruction spanned a ~60 block area from W Washington St to Stoughton St (North-South) and S Broadway Ave to S Busey Ave (East-West).  Chief Seraphin said the damage was in the tens of thousands of dollars, and that a detective has been assigned to work on the case.  Seraphin made no mention of possible motives.

Article updated on March 2^nd: a photo of a tow truck removing a vehicle that had all four of its tires punctured.  Less than a block away in the distance, another tow truck removes a car that had two tires punctured.