Des Moines is offering a $1,000 reward for information on who set off fireworks in the Riverview Park men’s restroom, causing serious damage to the brand-new facility.
The incident prompted Des Moines Parks and Recreation to close the park’s facilities. Meanwhile, Des Moines police will start its first-ever fireworks response team for the Fourth of July holiday.
“Typically when someone talks about vandalism at parks you’re talking about graffiti, maybe windows broken or a piece of playground equipment’s damaged,” Des Moines Police spokesperson Sgt. Paul Parizek said. “I did not anticipate that I was going to see a full size porcelain toilet blown to minuscule pieces.”
Parizek said this is the first serious act of vandalism using fireworks in the city this year.
“It’s amazing the power that those fireworks have, particularly those commercial grade ones that people are buying, and their ability to create such amount of damage … I’m surprised that nobody got hurt,” Parizek said. “The damage inside that restroom was some of the worst vandalism I’ve seen in a park.”