April 14, 2001 – Vandals struck Thursday night at an enclosed parking lot in Hospital Ground southeast of Lionel Roberts Stadium, damaging Public Works Department heavy equipment that was being used to remove derelict vehicles from the site.
"The vandals broke into a garbage bin hauling truck and a bulldozer," Darryl Lewis of the Property and Procurement Department said Friday. The equipment had been left on the property while work was under way to rid the parking lot of abandoned vehicles and junked automotive parts.
At the lot Friday, Lewis pointed out that the truck had been vandalized and some of its hydraulic cables and several wires in the cab had been severed. "They started the truck and used its steel bumper to ram the ticket booth, causing a total loss to the government's property," Lewis said. He noted that the cab of the bulldozer also was damaged.
Lewis said efforts have been under way to clean up the parking lot, which is used during the week by Human Services Department personnel, and the surrounding area. The lot also is used during Carnival festivities in the nearby stadium.
He said residents called police to the area Thursday night after hearing someone revving the truck's engine. No one was arrested, he said.
Lewis asked that anyone with information about the matter call police at 774-4050 or the emergency number 911. He said he believes adults with some mechanical knowledge were involved, as "there are a number of buttons and mechanisms that must be released before the truck can move … This was not the work of a child."
