Heavy equipment belonging to two companies working to construct the Columbia Greenway rail trail was vandalized where it was parked on the project site overnight Friday.Det. Sgt Raymond Manos said Saturday morning that police had been notified at 2:05 a.m. that a banging noise had been heard by a Shaker Road resident which appeared to be coming from the area of the rail trail under construction.
Officer James Renaudette responded to the call and found widespread damage to construction equipment, vehicles and trailers which had been parked along the rail trail. Renaudette found that a backhoe owned by Mass West Construction of Granby had been tampered with and six vehicles owned by Cotton Tree Service of Northampton were damaged.
Det. John Barnachez was sent to the scene to assist with the investigation and Manos said that he reports that the backhoe, found on the south side of Shaker Road, had been started and the bucket had been moved.
The other six damaged vehicles belonging to the tree service, Manos said, “were spread out down the trail” on the north side of Shaker road, “over several hundred feet.”
He said that the windows of a tractor-trailer unit had been broken and the ignitions of several vehicles were damaged. “I think they were trying to start others”, Manos said, in addition to the backhoe which had been moved.
He said that battery cables and ignition cables had been cut on several, apparently with tools from the damaged vehicles. Manos said that tool boxes on at least some of the vehicles had been entered and hand tools were found to have been left scattered along the trail.
David Cotton, the president to the tree service, was at the scene Saturday afternoon starting repairs and said that the windows of the truck were smashed out to gain access. He said “once inside they used a crowbar to rip the dash apart” in an apparent effort to start the vehicle.
Cotton said that the dashboard of the truck is robust but the gauges and wiring were seriously damaged.
He said that, overall, his equipment suffered “major, major devastation” and said that the culprits must have spent hours vandalizing his equipment causing “horrific damage.”
He said that, because parts may not be readily available, it will probable take “three or four” days to fix the heavy equipment and he may have to bring in other machines to keep up with the work schedule.
Cotton said that the damage was deliberate and appeared to be spiteful.
He also said that the vandals “knew what they were doing.”
He said that hidden battery compartments were entered and, in one piece of equipment, the battery leads were deliberately switched so that the resulting polarity reversal would burn out the electrical system of the machine.
In another case, he said, a chain was laid across the terminal posts of several batteries to short them out.
“The amount of damage is significant – and it’s needless” Cotton said. It “will cause major operational issues” with the project’s deadline he said.
“We believe that kids roaming around during the night did all the damage to the vehicles” Manos said.
He explained that bicycle and sneaker tracks found among the damaged vehicles indicate that two youths were probably involved.
Cotton said that he believes it is important to hold the perpetrators accountable for the damage they wrought in order to deter future lawless acts.
To that end, he said he is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the vandalism to his equipment.
