Thanks for posting. We frequent PAMF for our medical needs. The garage is bustling with people during the week / work hours. Did this take place during the weekend/off hours?

What was the reaction of the PAMF security? Your email spooked me - there are times when I have to rush to pediatric urgent care and the last thing that I think about is the security in the parking garage.

If that were my car, it would have almost been worth it if I caught him in the act.

I hope the attendants are more watchful. Like Anamika wrote, sometimes there is a reason. It is, after all, a medical facility. I hope this is an isolated incident. Thanks for telling us about this.

Did you report it to PAMF? I wonder if they have video cameras in the garage? Palo Alto City Hall has cameras now. Sounds like some serious road rage. That place is so busy, I would bet that someone saw it.

I take this opportunity to remind people to be consciencious enough to NOT park in a compact size parking spot with a non compact vehicle (eg Minivan or SUV) and to make sure they park within the parking spot lines so that the owner/driver/passengers of the cars parked next to them can get in their cars when they need to (ie when they come back to their parked car). There is nothing more aggravating than being unable to get into one's car because some self-absorbed person did not bother to park properly.

(I am not the perpetrator of the vandalism)

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I am with you on this one and although I don't drive an SUV I find that there are always more compact spaces around than the bigger kind. I prefer not to use compact spaces because I can't open my door enough to get in and out and when I was pregnant, it was even worse. We need more regular spaces and less compact ones. (Even the compact ones are too small for pregnant women to get in and out of their cars and if you have a car seat you need a bigger space to open the door so that you can lift the car seat in or help a toddler with a seat belt on their booster seat. We need bigger spaces or parent spaces.

You parked outside of the boundaries of your space. Your vehicle should be centered within the lines, not on top of one. You denied the person next to you access to their vehicle. I believe you are very, very lucky the minor vandalism to your vehicle was your only consequence.

In places other than Palo Alto that would not be the case.

So vigilante action is acceptable? The miscreant owned the space? The note would have been adequate.

It was during the afternoon.

The PAPD inspected the damage and wrote up a report.

The officer said he'd seen a number of similar assaults on vehicles in PA.

I have been "parked in" my space dozens/hundreds of times during the past 30 years in NorCal, at Safeway, on campus, at work, at Candlestick, etc. I haven't yet reacted by dismembering wipers, duct taping mirrors, etc!

I'm with Walter on this one - the guy made a mistake and got his wipers ripped off? People think that's ok? Even if he did it on purpose (as appears not to be the case), the response seems way out of line. Let's all take a chill pill - it's just parking.

He didn't make a mistake, he was an inconsiderate a**hole. I think we can assume the person who vandalized his car had his own car trapped by this. Maybe that was on top of bad news he got at PAMF. Was the vandalism justified? No. Does it make me happy to see that one of these "trapper" big car people gets his? Yes.

So, stay in the car next time you park without even thinking about anyone but yourself, then you can move the car when the person you've trapped gets back.

Scary .. Reading about the 'rage' that people have for those who park larger cars in 'compact' spots. Guys - this was vandalism, does not matter what the instigating factor was. It seems that some of you are saying 'serves you right' to the original email!

Ripping off the wipers? Gimme a break.. if they catch the individual who did this, the individual needs to spend sometime in a jail house.