SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Jeep driver was caught on video drifting through the muddy grass in Tahoe Park Friday, causing damages to the field below and frustrating the community.
The field, used for anything from walking dogs and taking a stroll to competitive frisbee or softball, now has deep tire marks in it, according to Isaac Gonzalez, president of the Tahoe Park Neighborhood Association.
"We're extremely frustrated by the damage that was caused to our park last night by some inconsiderate jeep driver doing donuts in the wet muddy grass in our baseball fields in the park," said Gonzalez.
He says during his 15 years living in the neighborhood, he's never seen such "deliberate, inconsiderate vandalism" this before.
"I cannot recall anyone so egregiously deciding to disrespect our park by doing donuts in the grass area," he said. "I can't imagine why someone would think that would be okay. Obviously it's not."
The Sacramento Police Department says they are aware of the video and will investigate the incident, but because there seems to be no license plate on the front of the car it will be difficult.
Gonzalez says he's even more frustrated about the situation because Sacramento parks are still hurting after recent storms soaked grass, knocked over trees and caused other damages.
"To add one more deferred maintenance to the list of things that we need to do in our parks in Sacramento is just very aggravating," he said. "We don't know how much it's going to cost. But it's not just going to fix itself... It could be weeks or months before this is addressed."
He says a softball game played on the field Saturday morning was affected by the deep tire marks and he's worried someone may get injured if the damage isn't repaired soon.
Gonzalez says he's not aware of any plans for the city to close the park, but people from all around come to enjoy everything the park has to offer. He warns those coming to the park to be aware of the divots in the ground for safety.
Though this situation is frustrating and shocking, Gonzalez remains hopeful the community will pull through it.
"We'll overcome this we'll work together to make sure we figure out a way to fix it as soon as possible," he said. "I wouldn't be surprised in a few days if the community doesn't just come together and figure out how to fix this on their own just to make sure that no one hurts themselves."
