Car vandalized with N-word, Trump graffiti in Niagara Falls

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (WIVB) -- A Niagara Falls councilmember is calling for action after a car was found damaged and vandalized with racist graffiti in a residential area.

According to a police report, the incident happened sometime between Friday night and Saturday morning in an apartment complex on 20th Street in the city's north end, which residents said is the Center Court neighborhood.

Pictures show that the car was heavily damaged. It was turned into a billboard for racism and political ideology in this neighborhood: the N-word is spray painted on and inside the car multiple times. "Trump" was also spray painted on the car.

The car was keyed, the front tires were popped and the interior seats were torn apart. According to the police report, police arrived on 20th Street Saturday morning and found the 2019 Ford Taurus.

Police said they spoke to the driver, who is Black, who said his wife owns the car and that he left the car unlocked overnight while he went to a family member's house.

Brian Archie, a city councilmember who lives in the area, is concerned about the impact the racist graffiti may have had on kids nearby.

"Literally in that space, there's nothing but kids there, like almost every other home has little kids and I'm talking about 7 and under that live there," Archie said. "They don't need to see that, they don't need to have to endure hate even before they've gotten an opportunity to enter school."

Archie said the car was discovered down his street.

"I walked down yesterday after speaking with another individual that was contacted on this and there were some young folks there taking pictures and I'm like, 'Does anyone know how this got here? Does anyone know what happened?' and everyone is like, 'We have no clue,'" Archie said.

Residents in the area said they don't know who the car belongs to. WIVB News 4 found an insurance agent on the scene who was investigating into what happened.

"To bring that sort of attention there to me is asking for erratic responses is what it's doing and further sowing the division that we are seeing nationally at a community level," Archie said.

The police report said that the driver believes the car is worth $20,000 and that it would cost over $3,000 to repair it.

The car was towed away Tuesday and police are investigating what happened.

Last year in the Town of Niagara, a resident had his fence vandalized with racist graffiti, which came just one month following the Tops mass shooting.