Wheel flies off NYPD van in suspected sabotage: police sources
A tire flew off of an NYPD van leaving an Upper West Side NYCHA housing complex after someone apparently loosened the lug nuts, the Daily News has learned.
No one was hurt but the van was damaged after the vandalism caused “the rotors to hit the ground,” according to an internal NYPD memo.
It was not immediately clear when the suspected sabotage happened, but the department encouraged members of Housing Bureau Manhattan to “manually inspect lug nuts on your vehicles prior to driving off.”
“Given today’s climate and for safety purposes that extra 5-10 seconds to double check won’t hurt,” the memo reads.
The cops, members of the NYPD’s Field Training Unit, were responding to report of gunshots at the Frederick Douglass Houses on Columbus Ave. and W. 100th St., the memo noted.
The van had been parked and left unattended for about an hour when the officers returned and drove off.
“Moments later the tire flew off the van,” the memo states. “A civilian found the tire across the street and brought it back to them.”
An NYPD spokesman said the incident is under investigation.
“This happened after midnight when the streets were mostly clear, but what if that tire hit a civilian or cops were on the highway?” the memo says.
In 2015, cops were instructed to check the tires on their NYPD and personal vehicles after someone loosened the lug nuts on a police cruiser sitting in a parking lot outside the 83rd Precinct stationhouse in Bushwick. That vandal also removed the lug nuts from private vehicles belonging to three cops.
