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Man says 'squeegee kid' attacked his car, shattering window

Posted at 6:43 PM, Oct 04, 2018
and last updated 2018-10-04 18:43:40-04

"This is what we face every day on the road in Baltimore City," a Maryland man said. 

Most people have seen them: kids on the corner looking to make a buck squeegeeing cars. 

"They take a pose when I say no, they will just walk away," he said. 

But this Maryland man, who wants to stay anonymous for his safety, says last night was different. 

"These boys were just aggressive. They just kept asking, kept knocking, not leaving," he said. 

He says it happened at the intersection of Hamburg and Russell Streets downtown. 

"He was asking me to roll down the window and I didn't and I was just looking out the front and I was ignoring him. He was like starting to bang on the windows," he said. 

So he pulled out his phone to talk pictures. That's when he says one of them attacked his car with a squeegee, shattering the back windshield. 

He pulled over and called police. 

"We're not going to tolerate violence from anyone, That's a violent act, destruction of property and potential assault, so it's something we are looking into," Baltimore Police Chief T.J. Smith said. 

Smith says they've gotten reports of the kids becoming aggressive in other places too. But this man says it's not the norm. He has been a Federal Hill business owner for 7 years and while hte kids have been a nuisance, they've never been a threat. Some boys even drawing hearts on windshields if you turn down a cleaning.

"I know there are some kids who really need a couple bucks. They don't know how to apply for another job," he said. "I feel bad about those good kids who are always smiling and when we ask them to leave, they will leave." 

He got his windshield fixed and now he just wants to make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else.

"If we let this kind of person go, it's gonna happen again," he said.