Tires Slashed of Nurses Fighting COVID-19
Imagine being a nurse working extra long hours in the fight against COVID-19. Imagine the nurse is in a hot spot like New York. Tensions are high. Exhaustion is visible, and breaks are few and far between. Yet, as a front-liner, the mind of the nurse is still focusing on the job at hand. That is, helping patients as best as possible, and making sure their own personal protective equipment is not missing something that would end up infecting them in the process of helping people. Now imagine that nurse finally got to a place where they can go home for a few hours, rest up, shower, and go back to work. Oh, the excitement as they walk out to the parking lot. Then the horror. The excitement of going home is destroyed by finding flat tires.
Appreciation from the community
On Thursday, the local Police, Fire, and EMS in the area of a Cortlandt Manor hospital had come out to show respect, honor, and to bring some cheer to the workers at the hospital. Friday morning, many of those workers came out to their vehicles at the end of their shifts and found their tires slashed. Their thoughts of going home anytime soon were deflated along with the tires.
Ugly morning surprise
In an emailed statement to Rockland/Westchester Journal News, officials for the Cortlandt Manor, New York hospital said, “We were shocked to hear of this incident, especially at this time when our employees are working tirelessly and courageously through this crisis”
In all, twenty-two vehicles had their tires slashed. Twenty-two! That’s not twenty-two tires. That is twenty-two vehicles.
Locked him up
New York State Police were called in to investigate and to hunt down the perpetrator(s). The police were on top of their game because they quickly arrested somebody in connection with the investigation of the flattened rubber. According to a press release from the New York State Police,
“At approximately 7:00 a.m. the State Police received a complaint of criminal mischief at the New York-Presbyterian Hudson Valley Hospital. Investigation determined Daniel Hall slashed tires on twenty-two vehicles parked in the hospital parking lot. At the time of his arrest, Hall, was in possession of a small quantity of Phencyclidine (PCP).
Hall was arraigned before the Westchester County Court, and remanded to the Westchester County Jail in lieu of $1,500 cash bail, or $5,000 secure bond.”
In a time where heightened stress weighs heavy on all medical staff across the globe, the last thing COVID-19 fighters need is additional stress. Perhaps the hospital recognized that. So, reports say that the hospital stepped up and has decided to pay for the damages.
That’s a lot of money
The reports do not indicate how many tires were slashed. Nor do reports indicate what the split would have been from standard passenger car tires, to performance tires, to light truck tires. Tires can range from fifty dollars on up to hundreds of dollars, depending on the specific type. So, the hospital’s bill could easily end up being a few thousand dollars for just twenty-two tires. But, the crime was not against twenty-two tires. It was against twenty-two vehicles. With an unknown number of tires slashed, the true cost of replacement could be significantly higher.
This is a sick crime at any time. But it is all the more reprehensible when people across the globe depend on medical staff to keep things together enough under the high stress, coronavirus environment to save each one of us if necessary, including the perpetrator himself. At least, the silver lining is that the hospital is taking care of its staff by showing their gratitude goes way beyond just a paycheck. The criminal who slashed the tires of the staff has a lot to learn about appreciating people who could possibly end up saving his life down the road.
