By Whitney Spencer
A University of Kentucky win doesn’t end on the field.
From the time Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium cleared from yesterday’s Bluegrass Battle, a vandal took to the parking lots of Bettie Johnson Hall, Kurz Hall, Community Park, and The Complex. Several students woke up this morning to find their tires slashed and phrases such as “U.K. Wins” etched across their hoods and doors.
“My brother went down to my car to get something and he called me and said ‘hey your tires are slashed,'” said freshman Business Administration major Jake Smith. “Somebody wrote ‘U.K. wins. U.K. all the way.”
Cars in the various parking lots sat lopsided as very few of them had all four tires slashed. Campus police officers and tow trucks lined the lots as disgruntled students made frantic calls to parents and insurance companies looking for answers.
Police have a person of interest stemming from the video cameras that can be found in the parking lots. It was estimated that those involved in the incident vandalized at least 38 cars.
“They need to pay for it,” said freshman biology major Jennifer Schaefer. “I’m paying thousands and thousands of dollars to go here. I’m not trying to pay more money because some UK fan wants to come through here and slash up some tires because they’re drunk and happy they won.”
Campus police told Smith that the university would pay for the tires and the tow while he hoped his insurance would cover the damage done by the words that were scraped on to his car. It was later announced that the university would only pay for the tow of the cars from each lot.
Currently, speculation is that the damage was done a little after 3 a.m., but the investigation is ongoing.
In a press conference held September 7, university police officials described the suspect as a white male in his 20’s wearing what appeared to be an American Eagle shirt and cut off shorts possibly cargos. The suspect was driving a late model black, 4-door, dual exhaust sports sedan. According to university police officials, the car is looked to fit the description of a Camry or Sonata.
