Tire piercing is a repeated
problem for borough man
SOUTH RIVER — An 87-year-old borough man who says he needs his car to get him to places such as doctors’ offices for a variety of ailments, has had something of an obstacle getting there recently. He says he continuously finds his tires have been deflated.
Floyd Kucharski, a widower and lifelong South River resident who lives in the Yates Avenue duplex he owns, said someone, or possibly more than one person, has been piercing and flattening his tires repeatedly in recent months.
"It’s been off and on for about a year," he said. "It would happen now and then, but now it’s all the time."
One day last week, Kucharski said he went outside to find six flat tires — four on his pickup truck and two on his other car. Kucharski said he believes his cars are the only ones being targeted, but he cannot say for certain who the culprits might be.
What he does know, however, is that the piercings are costing him. He recently began saving his receipts from three different area mechanics and tire stores. He has a growing pile of invoices — one for $55.12 to remove and repair three flats, plus $10 for labor; another is for $31.80, a third for $16.96 and a fourth for $41.98. And those are just the most recent bills.
"I wasn’t saving them at first," he said.
He said there have been other times when the tires could not be repaired and had to be replaced. And he was yet to determine Friday whether the six flats he had last week would be able to be repaired.
"I imagine this must be costing me $700 or $800, at least," he said.
He said he has called the police "at least a dozen times" to report the damage, and at times has even gone to the police station to file reports in person. He is asking for more police patrols along his street, but he questions whether a patrol car would even be able to successfully apprehend a suspect who could run behind his house to the railroad tracks and escape on foot.
Kucharski said the vandalism often takes place after he goes to bed at night.
Police, who confirmed that they have received reports about the incidents, said they are patrolling the neighborhood.
"We’re going to beef up patrols in the area and try to apprehend this person," South River Police Detective Joseph Grekoski said.