Police: Serial tire slasher struck back at illegal parkers

Jerks who park in fire zones and no-parking zones surely deserve the stinkeye.

But Jason Knapp apparently couldn't just be passive-aggressive like the rest of us. Instead, police say, the 18-year-old Bristol man took a knife to the illegal parkers of Bucks County, slashing the tires of 22 cars in Bensalem in a four-day slashing spree earlier this week. Most of the vandalized cars had parked illegally, Bensalem police said.

Knapp was charged with felony criminal mischief and related offenses, He was arraigned today before District Judge Leonard Brown, who set bail at $50,000 and sent him to the Bucks County Prison.

Bensalem police set up surveillance teams after determining the tire-slashing pattern, which afflicted seven communities from last Sunday to Wednesday. Within just 90 minutes after the surveillance teams hit the streets, they saw Knapp try to slash another vehicle, police said. Instead, he got arrested and later confessed to the slashing spree, police said.

"Knapp stated he was delivering newspapers for a local newspaper and was upset with people who illegally parked their vehicles and slashed the tires on those vehicles," said Sgt. Andrew Aninsman, a police spokesman.

Damage is estimated to be at least $5,000.

Knapp's arrest comes two months after Philly police nabbed a serial tire slasher who terrorized several Northeast Philly neighborhoods. David Toledo, 44, of Holmesburg, was charged with 61 counts of criminal mischief and related offenses after allegedly slashing the tires of 55 cars, police said.