Darienite (https://darienite.com/tag/darien-vandalism-2017)
Someone scratched two Toyota 4-Runner SUVs parked outside a home on Beach Drive overnight from Dec. 23 to 24, the owner told police. Long scratches were left on both vehicles, one of them a 2007 model, the other a 1998 model. The owner had no idea who would have committed the vandalism. Police don’t know what was used to scratch the SUVs, which were parked on the short street off of the Post Road on the west side of town.
An overnight visitor at a home on Mansfield Avenue told police that someone had vandalized the BMW he had parked there over the weekend of Oct. 7 to 8, scratching the paint and damaging the left front and back signal lights. Shortly after 6 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 8, the 21-year-old man reported the incident to police. He parked the gray 2001 BMW 5 Series outside the house, located in the 400 to 500 address area of Mansfield Avenue, at 2:30 a.m. on Saturday and discovered the damage sometime on Sunday.
A 35-year-old man from Rhode Island hurled a brick through a window at the Trader Joe’s store shortly before 1:30 a.m. last Tuesday, then was arrested and charged with criminal mischief, police said. Darien police described what happened with this account, including accusations not proven in court:
Police were called to the store at 436 Post Road at 1:26 a.m. on a report of glass breaking. They found a small hole in one of the front windows, but no further damage inside the store or outside. When they checked the area, they found a man from West Warwick, R.I., and when they looked at surveillance video records from next-door Chase Bank, the man (or someone who looked like him) could be seen approaching the store with a brick in his hand. The man didn’t admit to police that he broke the window, but he did offer to pay for it.
Stop signs and traffic gates were damaged on Kensett Lane by unknown suspects, police said. At 8:08 a.m. on Monday, May 29, a resident of Kensett Lane reported to police that two traffic fences and a stop sign had been hit and damaged on the Kensett property. The damage was probably done by a vehicle, police said. The cost to repair the damage is unknown, police said, and officers are following up with property management. There are no suspects at this time.
After police were told about a car that had been egged overnight, April 13 to 14 on Allen O’Neill Drive, they checked the neighborhood and found three others. The owner of a 2015 Kia Optima contacted police, who notified the other car owners. None of the damage appeared to be permanent. Various Web sites have advice about cleaning eggs from cars. Eggs can damage car paint, making it look foggy or faded, according to an article in the Austin American-Statesman.
A 2010 Land Rover LR4 was damaged in an act of vandalism while it was parked at Middlesex Middle School for an hour, midday, the owner told police. A 40-year-old Darien woman had parked the SUV in the front lot of the school at 204 Hollow Tree Ridge Road between 12:15 and 1:15 p.m. on Saturday, next to handicapped parking spaces. Two long scratches were made on both the front and rear doors on the passenger side of the vehicle, police said. No other vehicles in the lot were damaged. Police were continuing to investigate the incident as of Monday, and they expected to check whether or not video surveillance records might provide any evidence.
Although two suspects were identified and even filmed in the act of committing vandalism to a fence at The Heights at Darien housing complex on Allen O’Neill Drive, when police were called, no charges were filed. The two suspects were boys, 7 and 9 years old. Police gave this further information:
Officers dispatched at 12:17 p.m. on Thursday, April 13 to 24 Allen O’Neill Dr. met with the housing authority director and a custodian at the complex and saw a smartphone video showing the kids throwing rocks at a stockade fence. The rocks made fist-sized holes in the fence, according to the police report (presumably the size of adult fists, not 9-year-old or 7-year-old fists). The youths were identified and their case was presented to what police believed would be the appropriate judicial authority: their parents.
Some damage was done to a baseball field at Ox Ridge School in late March, Darien Police Capt. John Lawlor told the Police Commission. Someone drove over the field in a vehicle, Lawlor told the commission as he listed various events since the last commission meeting. The damage to the field, discovered on Friday March 24, was fixable, he said after the Wednesday afternoon meeting. ____________
The previous case of vandalism announced by police:
Vandalism to ATM Building and a Car Behind a Downtown Bank (Feb. 26)
The door to the small ATM building behind Wells Fargo Bank in the Center Street parking lot was scratched up, as was the 2010 Lexis owned by a bank employee, police said. Police gave this account of the incident:
The vandalism to the ATM building was reported by a bank manager who saw it on Feb. 13 when opening the bank. The word “Hate” was scratched onto the glass door. When police were gathering information at the scene, they met a bank employee who said he believed his car was vandalized at the same time that the ATM building was.