Bay Ridge Residents Say They Have Special Treat In Store For Man Caught On Video Smashing Pumpkins
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Some Brooklyn neighbors are banding together to try and stop a man who's putting a damper on Halloween, by smashing their pumpkins.
Decorations with plentiful pumpkins can be seen all along 81st Avenue in Bay Ridge.
They have been easy pickings for a man caught on surveillance walking in front of a retired sanitation worker's home. Then, after checking that the coast was clear, he bee-lines for the pumpkin to smash it once and then again, before walking away from the mess he made.
Homeowner Herbert Kalloff told CBS2's Dave Carlin he thought maybe kids were pulling a prank on him until he checked his home security video.
"A grown adult," Kalloff said of the suspect captured on tape.
He was shocked to see it, and rattled because it was the second time a pumpkin in the same spot was smashed.
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The first time was in the early morning hours of Sept. 29, and it sure looks like the latest incident was pulled off by the same guy.
"He wants to make Halloween really nice," Kalloff said.
"I feel like that's very stupid and it's kind of rude," added neighbor Catherine Connolly.
Neighbors young and old have been sharing the videos on social media. They want the smasher of pumpkins punished.
"Maybe have him fined for like, vandalism," Connolly said.
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Kalloff said he did not consider the crime serious enough to get the police involved, but when the neighbors heard about it and they contacted investigators at the 68th Precinct station house.
"I know where he lives. Everybody in the neighborhood told me where he lives," Kalloff said of the man on the video.
The amateur sleuths of Bay Ridge directed Carlin to a man who lives nearby, saying he's the one.
Carlin approached him about the incident, but he denied being the smasher.
"It wasn't me. It wasn't me," the man said.
Whoever did it, Kalloff said he's ready if there is a third time.
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Back on the stoop is a third pumpkin, with something extra all over it.
"Vaseline. I want him to hold it over his head see how long he can hold it," Kalloff said, admitting he had booby-trapped the pumpkin. "I can't wait 'til that happens."
It's a slick trick to try to trip him up. If the man is foolish enough to return to this place where everybody is on guard ... make that on gourd.
