Car tipping incident worries police

Several cars were damaged near Portland and Wellington streets overnight, with one car found on its side.

The compact car, a SmartCar, was dumped on its side in a malicious prank called car tipping. Two other cars had their sun roofs stomped on. It all happened between 3:00 and 3:30 a.m.

"It's a dangerous, very dangerous thing," Andrew Dziedziola, the manager atAstley Gilbert Limited, the printing company that owns the tipped car, said. "We called the tow truck. The tow truck flipped it back."

Surveillance video from a nearby business shows a group of people at around the same time the vandalism took place heading into the printing company parking lot. Toronto police say the vandalism started in this area at 66 Portland St. The suspects damaged several cars and then moved south towards Wellington Street West where the vandalism continued.

"It was reported to us that there were possibly four men who were jumping up on top of a car," said Toronto police Const. Victor Kwong.

That was the first call to police about trouble in the area. There were other calls to police, too.

"They were just kind of roughhousing around, jumping around, kind of play fighting with one another," said Jennifer Crozier, who saw the group from her apartment window.

Car tipping is said to be a trend in some American cities, but police say incidents here are still rare.

Witnesses say the suspects seem to be in their late teens or early 20s. Police are asking for anyone who may have witnessed the vandalism to contact them.