Tire Slasher Targets Pair of Car Service Drivers

On October 16th, Rodrigo woke up to a familiar yet odd sight: a pair of flat rear tires. As a cab driver it is something he's encountered before but never a pair and never in the same morning. With the help of his brother Juan, who also worked as a driver, they replaced the tires with spares and took it to a nearby tire shop. A quick inspection made it clear that the flats were not the cause of a stray nail on the road, they were in fact stabbed and slashed. This was the first in a series of three incidents.

The following Friday, Rodrigo found parking on the curb right beside the apartment building he lived in with his family, and awoke to another tire, slashed flat. The next day Juan found his tires flattened as well. He had parked around the block and was still targeted.

The brothers work for Eastland Car Service, based in Flatbush. Both normally work 12-hour shifts daily, from 6 in the morning to 6 at night. They drive in distinctive black Lincoln Town Cars, which are a regular sight in NYC as it is the type most car service drivers use for work. This, they suspect, makes it very easy to identify and target their cars.

"We used to rent out parking space nearby but recent property developments closed that down and so we seek out regular parking at the end of the day," said Juan when asked about the possible reason for these incidents.

Development in Flatbush has been in a boom in recent years, with some 35 projects set to launch in the next 3 years.

The pair suspects that by parking nearby they are unintentionally inconveniencing a protective and aggressive neighbor, taking a space that this person would easily use.

"It would be a lot easier to leave a note, this is just a waste of time."

They now look for parking outside of the general area where they live, and are looking into purchasing cameras to prevent or catch the slasher in the act.