Zak Koeske, Staten Island Advance
The car that was damaged.
Photo courtesy of Annmarie Mottola.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A trio of vandals descended on a 2004 Lamborghini Gallardo in Great Kills Saturday whose owner keeps it as a reminder of his late father, a 9/11 victim.
One of the hoodlums, who appear to be in their teens or early 20s, smashed the black luxury sports car with a bat while another filmed and a third stood lookout.
The late-night strike, which appeared to be premeditated, lasted only 10 seconds, but left the car’s driver’s side mirror dangling by a thread and its driver’s side door scratched and dented.
“He went at it,” said Annmarie Mottola, whose boyfriend, Brandon Millman, owns the Lamborghini that was defaced. “I thought it was a gunshot or something going off. It was so loud.”
Ms. Mottola, who was still awake when the incident occurred on account of a stomach virus, heard a banging outside the condo she shares with Millman around 1:30 a.m. and woke him up to check on it. By the time he did, the vandals were gone and all that remained was his smashed sports car.
“It’s just crazy,” Ms. Mottola, a nurse at Staten Island University Hospital, said. “I just don’t get who would do this.”
Surveillance cameras at the waterfront condo village where the snow-covered car was parked captured the destruction.
At 1:25 a.m., a light-colored car pulls up outside the condo village and three young men hop out, leaving their car idling on the side of the road.
One man remains near the car at the entrance to the condo park as an apparent lookout while the other two — one brandishing what appears to be a baseball bat and the other holding a cell phone — trudge through the driving snow and head right for the Lamborghini, parked alongside a white picket fence.
Upon spotting the car, the man with the bat picks up his pace and rushes towards it, greeting it with a running swing, while the other man hangs back about 50 feet and captures the initial swing on his cell phone before running back to the car.
The bat-wielding vandal continues to strike the car even after his videographer has fled, smashing it a total of five times before sprinting back to the group’s waiting car.
The trio hastily hop into their idling vehicle and pull off with a mid-street u-turn up Tennyson Drive. The entire episode lasts about 75 seconds from the time the car pulls up until it peels out.
Ms. Mottola said her beau was distraught over the attack.
Beyond being a pricey luxury vehicle, the Lamborghini Gallardo also held great sentimental value to Millman. The car, which he purchased about three years ago, serves as a direct reminder of the bond he shared with his late father, Benjamin Millman, a carpenter who was killed in the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Lamborghini was the late Millman’s favorite car manufacturer.
“It was ‘their’ car when he was younger,” Ms. Mottola said. “It’s a memory of his father and it hurts for someone to actually go after the car.”
The couple reported the incident to police, who took a report and are now investigating.
“Apparently there has been a lot on vandalizing in the area,” Ms. Mottola said. “Hopefully we can catch these kids.”
To see a video of this incident, please click here. The video shown was edited together from footage taken by three surveillance cameras and shows the incident in its entirety.An overnight attack on a black 2004 Lamborghini Gallardo left the car’s driver side damaged and its owner distraught. (Courtesy of Annmarie Mottola)
