Dozens of NYC cars vandalized with red spray paint

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A red menace is stalking Upper West Side motorists.

Dozens of cars parked on Riverside Drive in recent months have been vandalized with red spray paint on their side doors and windows.

On Feb. 7 alone, cops reported a whopping 65 vehicles hit with the same tag between West 99th Street and West 110th Street.

The Post counted 10 cars — including an otherwise pristine grey Alfa Romeo Giulia — along Riverside Drive between West 116th and West 125th Street sporting the same unsolicited paint job.

Carol Forman, 58, a fine art photographer, fumed to The Post that her car’s passenger-side windows and car doors were tagged with a squiggly red line just days after the West Side Rag reported that police were monitoring the spray paint spree. 

Among the cars vandalized on the Upper West Side was an otherwise pristine Alfa Romeo Giulia. J.C. Rice
Carol Forman’s car was hit even after police were alerted to the rash of vandalism on Riverside Drive. J.C. Rice

“There’s nothing that I don’t think anyone is going to or can do about it,” she said. “It’s incredibly frustrating and costly.” 

Paint removal that involves sanding and repainting can run upwards of $1,200, said local mechanic Bill Boynton, who had five of the graffitied cars dropped off at his Boynton Auto Body over the past three weeks.

“Somebody’s unhappy and they want other people to feel as unhappy as they feel,” he said of the heartless vandals.

A local mechanic estimated that more intensive paint removal procedures could cost drivers up to $1,200 J.C. Rice

Police and residents said that Riverside Drive has been a hotbed of auto-related crime in recent years, citing rashes of catalytic converter thefts and car windows being smashed in. 

“It’s always a problem parking on Riverside — it’s not very well lit,” said Officer Sarah Frankel of the 24th Precinct. 

The NYPD said that the vandalism is currently under investigation. 

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