NEWS

Windows, cars hit by vandalism right after Thanksgiving

When Oscar Toloza went to get his car off Redpath Avenue on Oct. 9, the day after Thanksgiving, he didn’t expect to see a shattered windshield, broken headlight and banged-up door.

The stunning discovery led him to dial the police. Much to his dismay, he wasn’t the only victim of late-night acts of vandalism in the area.

“I was surprised because we’re in Canada,” Toloza said. “That kind of thing isn’t supposed to happen.”

But it did, as buildings at 145, 185, 199 and 200 Roehampton Ave. had broken windows, and at least 10 cars along Redpath were damaged.

At 185 Roehampton Ave., a paving stone had been thrown through the window at one of the vacant commercial lots, and two residents had their cars damaged.

Registered in March 2018 and managed by Sean Taylor for First Service Residential, the building has a strict security policy for inside, but damage to the exterior presents new challenges.

“There were two residents who were parked on [Redpath] that were affected by this,” he said, in a phone interview. “As I understand, Toronto Police Service did apprehend the individual.”

Building door hit by vandalism
CAUTION: The building at 185 Roehampton Ave. was damaged during the night of Oct. 8.

Taylor was informed that nearly 40 cars and windows to buildings were smashed between Mt. Pleasant Road and Redpath. Unfortunately, a messy job site gave the assailant the opportunity to cause more damage.

“What I do know is we had a stack of paving stones that we have been using at our portion of Redpath. He took advantage of that to do his dirty work,” he said of the alleged vandal. “We did remind the construction crews to clean up their materials and that, of course, didn’t happen.”

Next door, at 199 Roehampton Ave., owned by Lawrence Construction, a detached side-view mirror was thrown at one of the apartment units facing the street.

The superintendent, who requested she not be named, said the individual tossed the mirror at the window from outside the range of the closed-circuit TV cameras.

“I said to myself, ‘Where is the stone? They have the stones next door, they never take care of it and I’m afraid people will use it because they don’t take care of it’,” she said. “This was smashed. What can you do?”

According to Toronto Police, William Coman, 24, of Toronto was arrested and charged with 10 counts of mischief and property damage not exceeding $5,000.

He was to appear in court at College Park on Oct. 9.

Now Toloza, as well as the victims of the vandalism, are left with a higher insurance rate. As soon as he reported the damage, it shot up to $91 a month.

“It’s getting a little unsafe here,” he said.