Family Says Legally Parked SUV Was Forklifted By Construction Crew In Williamsburg
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork)-- A Williamsburg, Brooklyn family walked onto the street to find their SUV wasn't where they left it. They say a construction crew had the nerve to use a forklift to move their car, and they've got the video to back it up.
Street parking in New York is never a picnic and it's apparently come to a forklift picking up and moving a car in the way of construction workers, CBS2's Steve Langford reported.
"I walked down the block and I found my car about three feet onto the sidewalk leaning against the tree," Henry Nahrwold said.
Nahrwold assumed his father's parallel parking had gone downhill, until they both got a look at a video.
"I went ballistic. I felt violated," Nahrwold said.
They say the back bumper is the most obvious damage to the vehicle they just bought, which they say was parked legally around the corner from their place on South 3rd Street in Williamsburg on April 22nd when it was moved by construction workers.
"These guys are going to be our neighbors for a long time and this is not a good start," Thomas Nahrwold said.
Construction is dominating the area around the old Domino sugar refinery, which will include a couple of thousand new apartment units.
Neighbors in the area told CBS2 they've watched as other cars have been lifted and moved by forklifts.
"Happens every day, happens every day here," one local said.
The Nahrwolds said they've shown the video to Two Trees Management, the developer.
"She responded back and said, 'We want to make this right, we want to take care of it,'" Thomas Nahrwold said.
It could be some repair job.
"When it brakes the steering wheel will turn almost perpendicular to the car," Henry Nahrwold said.
But it's the video that opens up a whole new front in the annals of parking wars.
"When you tell somebody, 'Hey my car was forklifted,' the usual reaction is 'forklifted?'" he said.
Two Trees Management released a statement to CBS2 saying, "We pride ourselves on being good neighbors and have reprimanded our subcontractor for this unacceptable behavior. We have been assured that the subcontractor will fully pay for any damages."
The company also said the car was not legally parked as there have been no parking signs up on that stretch of street during construction.