Brake lines cut in St. Paul's riding

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Some Liberal supporters in the St. Paul's riding were on the receiving end of a scary vandalism spree over the weekend.

More than a dozen separate cases of vandalism were reported, with the most serious involving their cars' brake lines being cut. Others reported cut telephone and cable lines, cars that had been keyed and anti-Liberal graffiti sprayed on houses.

It appears the victims were targeted after putting up lawn signs for local Liberal candidate Carolyn Bennett.

Andrew Lane, chief financial officer for Bennett's campaign, was one of those targeted. His car's brake lines were cut, nearly causing him to get into an accident.

"There were a few seconds of terror as I felt my car going onto Eglinton Avenue," he said.

Lane said he was shocked someone would go to such lengths in what appeared to be a politically motivated crime spree, adding the weekend's incidents far outstripped the more usual types of vandalism that sometimes occur around election time.

"It's one thing to kick over someone's lawn sign or even to key their car," he said. "Those are things that annoy you, but you have to be pretty malicious to crawl under someone's car with an X-acto knife and cut their brake lines, knowing the next time they get in their car it could cause them to get into a serious accident."

Making matters worse, Lane has two car seats in his back seat for his young children. The Bennett supporter said he was disgusted someone would do what they did to his car knowing that "it was not just me but potentially my whole family who could be hurt."

Toronto Police increased their patrols in the area hit by the vandals, a stretch of midtown Toronto stretching along and around Eglinton Avenue from Bathurst Street to Mount Pleasant Road.

"We're taking this very seriously," said Toronto Police spokesperson Tony Vella. "The one thing that appears to be consistent is that the victims are all Liberal supporters."

Police are currently inspecting the targeted cars, looking for fingerprints or other clues that could lead to an arrest of the person or people responsible for the acts.

Vella added there were no subsequent reports of vandalism following a spate of attacks that took place from Friday night to Saturday morning.

A dozen similar acts of vandalism, including more cut brake lines, took place Saturday in the Parkdale-High Park riding. In those cases, the victims were also known Liberal supporters.