Wheel flies off NYPD van on suspicion of sabotage: police sources

An NYPD van leaving a NYCHA apartment complex on the Upper West Side had a tire blown off after someone apparently loosened the nuts, Daily News has learned.

No one was hurt, but the van was damaged after vandalism caused “the rotors to fall to the ground,” according to an internal NYPD memo.

It wasn’t immediately clear when the alleged sabotage occurred, but the department urged members of the Manhattan Housing Bureau to “manually check the nuts on your cars before you leave.”

“Given today’s climate and for safety reasons, an extra 5-10 seconds for double-checking won’t hurt,” the memo says.

Police officers, members of the NYPD Field Training Unit, responded to reports of gunshots at the home of Frederick Douglas at Columbus Avenue and W. 100th Street, the memo notes.

The van was parked and left unattended for about an hour when the officers returned and left.

“Moments later, a tire came off the van,” the memo says. “A civilian found a tire across the street and brought it back to them.”

An NYPD spokesman said the incident is being investigated.

“It happened after midnight when the streets were mostly empty, but what if this tire hit a civilian or the cops were on the highway?” the memo says.

In 2015, police officers were ordered to check the tires on their NYPD and personal vehicles after someone loosened the nuts on a police car parked outside the 83rd Precinct police station in Bushwick. The vandal also removed the nuts from the private cars belonging to the three policemen.