SPRINGDALE, Ohio — Getting a flat tire is frustrating. For hundreds of people in Springdale, it's happening so often that they no longer think it's an accident.
In fact, Springdale police are looking for someone or some group who are intentionally throwing nails into the road.
The nails people find in their tires and on the road are commonly used for installing carpet. They may look small, but it's resulted in enough damage that it's not only burning a hole in the pockets of residents, but it's costing the city money in tire repairs.
"I'm constantly having flat tires," said Kishira Miller. "I thought some crazy lady was flattening my tires or something."
Miller said Tuesday she's had four new tires in a matter of weeks. She recently bought a Fix-A-Flat for her latest trouble.
"$799, $140, $500 — spend a lot of money on tires," said Miller, describing how much she spent each time.
She wasn't the only one.
"Just from my two tires, I spent $1,500 I think," Alex Lay said.
"The first set was like $700-something, and the set I bought about six weeks ago was $1,100," said one man, who didn't want to be named.
They all spoke about small nails getting stuck in their tires.
"Our mechanics started to look at the tires and look at the nails, and it was the same kind of nail we were getting them from those — it was not from the construction we had going on here," said Springdale Police Officer Keenan Riordan.
Officers have taken hundreds of these reports over the past few years. WCPO found these nails have ended up in the tires of Springdale police cars, as well as Springdale city vehicles.
"We don't know who is doing this," Riordan said. "We've had undercover officers out there, so that way they can even see with their own eyes because sometimes videos are not always quality as you might think, so we've had undercover officers out there in close cars, unmarked cars and no luck there."
Miller called the situation "extremely inconvenient."
"Someone could lose their job just off a flat tire in the morning," Miller said.
WCPO confirmed West Chester police arrested a man for a similar crime over the summer. However, West Chester and Springdale police can't connect this person to all of the crimes. That's why they're counting on residents to give them information so they can find out who is behind the damage.
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