Vandals Go on Smart-Car Flipping Spree

San Francisco residents spot gang flipping eco-friendly cars
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 7, 2014 2:50 PM CDT
Vandals Go On Smart-Car Flipping Spree
Daimler AG's Smart fortwo micro car is seen on a street in Washington.   (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson, file)

You didn't park a Smart car in San Francisco this weekend ... right? Well, four were flipped over between last night and this morning, apparently by a small group wearing hooded sweatshirts, NBC Bay Area reports. "They looked like they were up to no good," said an eyewitness who spotted the hoodie gang around a Smart car. "And sure enough, they huddled around it and lifted it up." How did the undersized vehicles look when flipped? "Like they are dachshunds sitting up on their hind legs."

Police pursued the vandalism overnight, finding one car at 1am, another a few blocks away, and a third in another part of town a half hour later, KTVU reports. A fourth was discovered early this morning. So far no one's been arrested, and the vehicles were towed away with body damage and shattered windows. Flipping Smart cars is nothing new, however—a YouTube video showed people flipping one during a Vancouver riot in 2011, and the Toronto Star declared it "the latest prank trend" 5 years ago. Too bad for San Francisco residents, who have embraced the car for its eco-friendly ways and park-it-anywhere body size. (More Smart Car stories.)

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