Mark Bletnitsky’s son walked outside at 5 o’clock in the morning and found their car among more than 20 vehicles smashed up overnight along the residential blocks of Sheepshead Bay. Windshields were shattered, hoods dented, and by daylight neighbors up and down East 13th and East 14th Streets were comparing notes on a spree that seemingly touched nearly every block in between. What has frustrated residents most isn’t just the damage itself, but who ended up in handcuffs afterward — and who didn’t.
According to ABC7 New York, home security camera footage captured a person jumping onto a vehicle and shattering its windshield, and Bletnitsky reported that more than 20 vehicles were damaged in total. Bletnitsky told the station he wanted to catch the suspect himself before police could. A neighbor who tried to physically stop the man was instead arrested on charges of criminal obstruction of breathing and harassment, even as the suspected vandal walked away without being charged.
Why the Neighbor Faces Charges and the Suspect Doesn’t
Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, who represents Sheepshead Bay in City Council District 48, said in a Facebook post that the vandalism stretched overnight along East 13th and East 14th Streets between Avenue Y and Neck Road. She said the intervening neighbor was arrested for physically beating the suspect, while the suspect himself was initially released because police could not establish positive identification. Vernikov urged any residents with security video or damage reports to contact the NYPD’s 61st Precinct right away.
The gap between those two outcomes traces back to how far civilians are legally allowed to go when confronting someone they believe committed a crime. New York Criminal Procedure Law Section 140.30 does allow private citizens to make a warrantless citizen’s arrest for felonies or offenses committed in their presence, but the force used must stay strictly proportional to the situation, according to NY TAC Defense. Civilians who use excessive force, or who detain the wrong person, can end up facing their own assault charges and civil liability. The obstruction of breathing charge against the neighbor is itself a Class A misdemeanor under state law, carrying up to a year in jail or three years of probation, per the New York State Senate.
A Second, Separate Investigation Into a Groping Case
Adding another layer to the case, neighbors believe the man seen in the vandalism footage may be the same person captured in a video shared with police showing a young man running up to a woman on 14th Street, groping her, and then fleeing. That groping incident is under separate police investigation, and residents have told detectives they believe it’s the same individual, though that connection has not been confirmed. A local city council member said the same person appeared responsible for both sets of incidents and shared photos of the damaged vehicles on social media…