Uptown Dallas woman's car speared by parking sign

An Uptown Dallas woman woke up Sunday morning to find someone speared her car with a parking sign, sending it right through the windshield.

The woman believes it's part of an ongoing problem with late night partiers in the area. But there are efforts in the neighborhood to change that.

A program launched this spring to put added officers in Uptown Dallas on Friday and Saturday nights as a deterrent to rowdy club goers is being hailed as a success. But stuff still happens -- including one really bizarre and mean-spirited act of vandalism against the car of a young nurse who lives in the area.

"I was going to work at 6 a.m. and I went to get into my car and there was glass all over the seat,” said Amy Larson. “So I turned to look and there was a street sign coming right through the windshield."

What Larson can piece together from neighbors is it happened between 10:30 Saturday night and 3 a.m. Sunday when an off duty cop came home and saw the resident parking sign protruding from her front windshield.

Larson shared her pictures on the Next Door social media site, asking neighbors to check their security cameras. So far, no luck.

“It’s almost makes it worse that nothing was stolen,” said Larson. “They just did it to be mean! You can see there's still glass all inside."

Uptown Dallas Inc. held its annual meeting Tuesday. With funding from the organization, Dallas police launched the Rover Initiative in March and added officers on McKinney Friday and Saturday nights from 11 to 3 a.m.

Detective Albert Sanchez says the early results are very promising. It was a joint effort between residents, police and bar and restaurant owners.

“A lot of the business owners who operate establishments along McKinney have been very receptive to the program and fully support it,” said Sanchez.

Sarah Pollan is another homeowner in Uptown who's had sporadic problems with vandals.

"I've had pellet guns or pellet holes in my windows that appear out of nowhere,” Pollan explained.

Both Pollan and Larson are frustrated with their individual cases. But both say that the general efforts to deter rowdy weekend crowds are working.

“I think the bar owners here are real responsible here,” said Pollan. “They try to keep the noise down for people who live here. And they really do a good job of trying to control that kind of crime."