Neighbors report tires being slashed repeatedly on Chicago's Lower West Side
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Neighbors in Pilsen are being subjected to a big headache – having woken up to their tires slashed in multiple incidents caught on camera.
Such crimes are more than a nuisance. A slashed tire is an expensive problem to fix.
Time and time again, a person dressed all in black has apparently slashed the tires of a sport-utility vehicle and a van parked in a private driveway in Pilsen. In video posted anonymously on social media, the man appears to go around one of the vehicles so he can slash the tires on both sides.
This was not the only recent reporting of tire slashing in the neighborhood.
"I'm driving and I hear like a weird noise, and I'm like, 'What's going on?'" said Cesar Valero. "I pull over and like my tire is flat, I've got like holes in it. It looks like lines, and it just got like slashed."
That happened to Valero about three weeks ago, when he was on his way to work in the morning. Just this week, on Monday, it happened again.
"There wasn't really any other damages other than like the tires," he said. "It was kind of just odd. Like it was just tires getting slashed"
Valero moved to Pilsen in September. He does not believe he is being targeted for anything, and he said his neighbors along Cermak Road and Paulina Street have also been victims of a tire slasher.
"I did see like it happen to at least one SUV and one truck," he said, "just for like, no reason, you know? Like, what do you get out of it? I don't see the point."
Valero is now out $150 in tire repairs.
"It's like, ugh!" he said. "Is it going to happen again today? Am I going to have to deal with this again? It's just a nuisance more than anything."
It was unclear late Thursday if the incidents were connected. But Valero had a message for anyone involved.
"I just hope that they stop. Everyone has things that they got to get to—places they got to be, you know, whether that be work, et cetera, whatever," Valero said. "You know, like, if you have an outlet, like, there's better ways. Getting caught for such a petty crime—I think that's just dumb. Like it's not worth it."
CBS 2 reached out to the office of Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th). Representatives for the alderman said they have received reports of tire slashings in the area and have brought up their concerns to the Near West (12th) District police.