Riverdale continues to be a target for car vandals and thieves

I don’t know what else we can do because people don’t want to be victims anymore.”

Victor San Andrés

Thanks to a string of vandalism, Riverdale residents woke up to shards of glass on their car seats after a wave of overnight window smashings, leaving owners to pony up for repairs.

In January alone, at least 20 cars in the area had their windows broken amidst freezing temperatures. Some residents are all too familiar with the crime and reported it’s not the first time their vehicles have been targeted.

On the morning of Jan. 27, one resident from North Riverdale, who wished to be identified as Ryan, discovered his front passenger-side window was completely gone.

Several cars in the area, parked between 5400 and 5500 Fieldston Road, were also vandalized, including Ryan’s wife’s car parked directly behind his.

“I’ve lived here for years, and my car has had its windows broken and tires stolen multiple times” Ryan said. “This time, my glove box was open, but nothing was taken. The same thing happened with my wife’s car – nothing was stolen, just the damage.”

Much of this stretch of Fieldston Road is poorly lit, allowing those creeping into cars to slip by undetected.

Sef Collado, a doorman at 2500 Johnson Ave., believes inadequate street lighting contributed significantly to the ongoing vandalism near the building.

“I hear about it all the time from people here,” Collado, who has spent 12 years working in the building, said. “Residents always tell me about problems with their car. Sometimes, it's a broken window; sometimes, the car has no tires. No one knows who is doing it.”

While 2500 Johnson Ave. is equipped with numerous cameras inside, Collado noted that the outdoor cameras are poorly positioned to surveil the street and instead, only catch images of the driveway.  

Like Ryan, Spuyten Duyvil local, Victor San Andrés is no stranger to the frustration of a broken window.

On Jan. 9, he discovered multiple vehicles in his neighborhood had been broken into overnight. Walking along Johnson Avenue between Kappock Street and Palisade Avenue, San Andrés found a pile of shattered glass next to one of his two cars. 

The second vehicle sported a large crack on its front passenger window which required repair.

“There were 12 cars, all with broken windows,” San Andrés said. “I think [those responsible] were looking for cash because I had a lot of expensive stuff in my car. It was all there, but everything was just messed up.”

Neither San Andrés nor Ryan chose to file police reports after the incidents because they anticipated there was nothing authorities could do.

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz also questioned the efficiency of getting local authorities involved.

“The police could patrol, but the thing is that the people who do this take like five seconds,” he said. “So, it’s very hard for the police to even catch somebody.”

Politicians are not immune to the crime either. 

Dinowitz’s wife’s car once had its catalytic converter snatched from under it in Riverdale.

The assemblymen said he previously contacted the police department urging them to address the mass vehicle vandalism, including a rise in stolen car tires and catalytic converters.

“Ultimately, if [the police] is dealing with something more serious, they have to go do that,” Dinowitz said.

With little progress in resolving the situation, many residents have resorted to alternative measures to protect their vehicles. Some are now parking their cars in private garages overnight, while others are exploring more creative solutions.

“I don't even park where my cars were damaged anymore,” San Andrés. “I bought a scooter and I’m parking my cars far away instead.”

He uses the scooter, not as his primary mode of transportation, but to get to and from his car to his apartment and back. Then he packs it into the trunk while driving.

In 2019, Eyewitness News ran a story citing the same problem in the same area. 

“Police are still counting the number of cars targeted sometime Friday along Broadway in the 250s and on Fieldston Road in the usually quiet, suburban-style neighborhood in the North Bronx,” wrote Josh Einiger for the news channel. 

But the problem is not unique to Riverdale. In late January, a surveillance camera at a private, residential garage in Pelham Parkway caught a vandal red-handed as he smashed the windows of more than 20 cars, according to several media outlets.

“They're gonna keep doing the same things over and over and over again because there's no consequences, you know,” San Andrés said. “I don’t know what else we can do because people don’t want to be victims anymore.”