Vandals Cause $100,000 Worth Of Damage At New Far Rockaway Playground
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Vandals caused about $100,000 worth of damage at a brand new Far Rockaway playground, officials said.
The Parks Department believes someone broke into the park between Monday night and Tuesday morning.
PHOTOS: Far Rockaway Playground Vandalized
1010 WINS' Carol D'Auria reports
Podcast
Police said someone commandeered a front loader parked at the Beach 29th Street playground and used it to plow through the property, damaging almost every piece of equipment at the park.
Community board district manager Jonathan Gaska said the vehicle was not hot-wired and someone needed a key to start it.
"I don't know if it's a disgruntled employee but it's someone who obviously has been around construction sites before and knew how to start the equipment and operate the equipment," Gaska said. "This was someone who knew how to use heavy equipment and really did a lot of damage. It could've been a lot worse, they could've brought the heavy equipment to the park house they're building and you could have damage in the millions."
No security guard was on duty at the time of the incident.
The playground was scheduled to open in June – just in time for beach season.
Gaska said the damage has pushed back the grand opening of the playground at least a couple of months.
The Parks Department is cleaning up the site and making repairs.
Police are investigating.
No arrests have been made.
