New mom's car vandalized at hospital

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - What a shock it was for a woman who had just given birth at Baystate Medical Center to find someone had vandalized her car in the parking lot.

Someone had scraped an ugly and demeaning insult across the hood. The new mother sent the picture to 22News via Report It . We covered over that crude message in the interests of decency

22News immediately contacted Baystate Medical Center, where Chief of Security Thomas Lynch told us that vandalism of cars is a rare occurrence in their parking areas. But Lynch said that “smash and grabs,” incidents of thieves breaking into cars, have become an issue. “Recently we had a spate of incidents, and we worked with the police. The police made a couple of arrests, we made an arrest, we trespassed a number of people off the property,” Lynch said.

Lynch added that the smash-and-grab problem is not as bad at it once was years ago. He told 22News that his team works closely with the Springfield police department.