Posted on 04/07/2014 6:09:24 PM PDT by doug from upland
Hooded Car-Tipping Vandals Flip Over Smart Cars In San Francisco April 7, 2014 3:00 PM
Holly Quan
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) San Francisco police are looking for vandals who tipped over four Smart Cars in two different neighborhoods early Monday morning.
Police received a call about 1 a.m. that about six to eight hooded suspects were roaming the area near Bowdoin and Sweeny Streets in the citys Portola District around the same time that a silver Smart Carthe compact eco-friendly vehicleswas found turned on its backend on the corner.
Three other similar car tipping incidents were reported in the Bernal Heights neighborhood. One Smart Car was flipped over on its side on Anderson and Ogden Streets. Another vehicle other was flipped on its roof in the 200 block of Anderson. A third car in that neighborhood was found flipped on its side at Prospect and Coso early Monday morning.
I thought it looked like they were up to no good and then sure enough they walk up to this Smart Car right here, all huddle around it, and then life it up and set it on its hind legs, said neighbor Brandon Michael. The average Smart Car weighs 1,600 to 1,800 pounds, making it much easier to tip than a full sized vehicle.
There have been no arrests yet as police continue to investigate. It was undetermined whether the acts of vandalism were pranks or if there was some other motive related.
I think theyre a lightning rod for criticism and obviously very bad intentions, said victim Andrew Smith, who owned his car for about six moths before it was totaled overnight. In that period of time, weve found a lot of people have very negative feelings about them. There is even a Facebook page dedicated to the idea of tipping over Smart Cars, with comments including, Theres environmentally friendly then theres just plain stupid which these cars are Before all the haters start, would never actually damage someones property, but mentally, its fun to picture em on their sides.
Though the page only has a few dozen likes, the incidents of car tipping have been popping up around the country.
I want to say I feel violated, but I dont really care, said Smith. Having lived in SF for as long as I have, Ive come to expect random acts of violence and mayhem.
Heck (with >2x more manpower) we even moved a Chevy Caprice a couple of spots down the street to allow the Concrete Truck Chute access to a Brownstone basement window for a new basement floor.
30 yrs ago a math teacher who used to beat...students.../”usually girls’ he owned a volkswagon....we used to flip that over about once a week and see how long we could make it spin.....he once spun my girl friend in a circle by her hair cause she wouldnt eat her peas.....wonder if some of these were teacher cars.....
oh well
I would never drive anything that is basically a grown up golf cart that 4 high school football players could overturn with me in it.
Sons of obama tipping the tin cans of city dwelling liberals...That’s funny.
Surprised they are not trying to call this a hate crime in SF.....
whaaaatttt?????? what grade were you in when this happened? sheesh!
This can be done with VW Beetles too.
I was in the 10th grade. About 8 of us or so picked up a VW that belonged to the Vice Principal and carried it up into the courtyard. After that, we ran like hell.
What year is that Honda?
BTW, we used to do the same thing to the vice principal’s Beetle.
Auto Ping.
No problem. This story is hysterical, and I just thought you might like to see some of the other comments about it too. Besides, it’s always good to see you around. :)
Sheet. We’ve been doing that to COWS for years up here in Sconny, LOL!
1971 or so.
My High School Art teacher drove one of these. We found it fit perfectly in the enclosure built for the trash dumpster, sideways. No damage was done, but it took her awhile to get it out...
Ghost of Treyvon?
My Dad talks about the pranks they used to do with Nash Metropolitans. Never damaged them but did annoy folks.
I thought a wind gust did it....
First time I saw a smart car was when I was in law school. Ann Arbor. A couple of us just pointed and started laughing. It looks like a golf cart.
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