The Juneau Police Department is investigating a mass tire slashing in Douglas and West Juneau.
In a news release, the department says 33 vehicles had their tires slashed along Douglas Highway on Tuesday night. It estimates more than $10,000 of damage.
Wednesday was busy all day for Randal Benc, he said. He’s a tow truck operator for Capital Towing, and was putting chains on a Ford SUV on the side of Douglas Highway in West Juneau.
All four of the SUV’s tires were punctured.
Mike Gardner was standing on the sidewalk in front of his house and had flagged Benc down. He said his neighbor gave him a call at 6 in the morning about the overnight vandalism. His first reaction?
“Disgust,” Gardner said. “There’s a lot of stuff happening in Juneau here lately. You know, the fire down by the playground, and this and, I mean, I’ve gotten broken into before on my truck and tools stolen. It’s just like — it used to be a really safe place, now it’s giving me that uneasy feeling.”
He took the day off to get his car taken care of, work with his insurance company and to help out his neighbor.
“It’s an all day endeavor. It’s chaotic,” Gardner said as Benc winched the SUV onto his flatbed.
The car being towed was one dozens awkwardly slumped over on flat tires in the shoulder, driveways and carports along about a mile of Douglas Highway.
Juneau police Lt. Kris Sell the calls started coming in about 5-5:30 a.m., as people got up. And the calls kept coming.
“Slashing tires on that many vehicles is not something that’s going to happen quickly,” Sell said. “It’s going to take a little bit of time to do it. We’re hoping somebody noticed some suspicious activity and can help us with a description of the person or persons involved.”
Contact police at 586-0600 with information.
In the meantime, Gardner said he’s thinking about installing some motion-detection cameras facing the street.
