Christopher Shaeffer said he has no enemies, nobody who hates him enough to commit such a crime. But that did not stop someone from hurling a cinder block through the side window of his 2001 Saturn on May 3 near his apartment on West Maynard Avenue.
Many students who live off-campus have had similar problems with car vandalism, and what they perceive to be a lack of police presence to deter these crimes.
Car vandalism is not uncommon. According to a May 4 incident report listed on the Columbus Division of Police Web site, all the vehicles on the north side of Chittenden Avenue were keyed the previous day. On May 4, there were five different car vandalism reports with no theft taken in Precinct 4, according to the Web site. Precinct 4 includes most off-campus housing.
"Several cars have had their windows smashed out in the same parking lot," said Shaeffer, a senior in political science and international studies.
"I've lived here for almost two years, and I have not seen one single police officer the whole time. Not one," he said. "It's not an invitation or anything, but I think at least some police presence in this area couldn't hurt."
Shaeffer filed a police report, which is a crucial step in helping police track down where vandalism occurred, Columbus police Lieutenant Michael Woods of the Strategic Response Bureau said.
Woods said if police notice a certain street or neighborhood has an unusually high number of vandalism reports, they can see emerging patterns and try to stop them. Woods suggested students try to park in well-lit areas where a vandal is less likely to strike. Vandals are difficult to find, however, because they are often young kids looking, he said.
Steven Martin's car was also recently vandalized. The morning after Cinco de Mayo, the senior in marketing walked to his 2001 Honda Accord parked on the street near his house on East 17th Avenue. What he saw did not make him feel festive.
One of his mirrors had been destroyed, hanging only by the power cord. Martin said the mirror will cost a few hundred dollars to replace.
Martin's roommate had a similar problem with his car last month. Travis Sensabaugh, a sophomore in early-childhood education at Columbus State Community College, approached his 2005 Chevy Cavalier parked on East 16th Avenue. Sensabaugh saw his car, which he had owned for only four days, with its driver's side mirror completely torn apart and the passenger side mirror cracked and broken. Other residents on his street said they could feel his pain.
"You could tell the whole road, someone went by, and like every other one on that whole road [was vandalized]," he said. "That's how it is, I mean you wake up on a Sunday and drive around on campus and you just see mirrors off."
The mirrors will cost $175 each, according to an estimate he received. He said he tries to park in a well-lit area as Woods suggested, but sometimes it is difficult to do. He thinks the culprits are usually drunk students returning home from bars or parties who might not realize the damage they are doing to fellow students.
With so many random acts of vandalism, police are not going to stop every one. Martin said he hopes students will think twice before knocking off mirrors and throwing cinder blocks through windows, knowing how expensive it is to replace car parts.
"If students knew people were having trouble with this, some people would stop," he said.
Tom Knox can be reached at knox.105@osu.edu.
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