DETROIT (WXYZ) — A Detroit homeowner discovered her property damaged, and she caught the incident on camera.
Valencia Daniel is the victim of a hit-and-run, but it doesn't involve the kind of vehicle you might think.
The culprit hit her fence with a skid steer, and it turned out to be stolen from a construction site a couple of blocks away from her home.
Around 9:15 p.m. Monday night, a man is seen on camera driving the skid steer down East Canfield Street. Daniel lives just northeast of Detroit’s Eastern Market.
Watch the surveillance video below:
The longtime Detroiter said the man “was coming down the street, came on the sidewalk, came down. They had a mask on. And hit it and kept going."
A post is bent and the railing is bowed. Daniel played the surveillance footage back even further.
“There he is right there," she pointed at her monitor.
About 20 minutes before driving the skid steer, the man is seen walking toward the direction the skid steer came from.
So, where would you get a piece of equipment like a skid steer? You'd get it at a construction site just a couple of blocks away where contractors are working on the parking lot for juvenile court.
“I was here around 6 a.m.," Domenico Munaco of Munaco Lanscaping told 7 News Detroit. "And the machine’s red, so I’m looking and I’m like I don’t see any red.
"And then I’m like oh, maybe I parked it on the other side. And I’m like that machine’s gone. So, kind of in a frenzy, I called my boss and he thought I was joking.”
Munaco was dead serious. He said he broke the news to his brother Tuesday morning. Someone stole a skid steer belonging to Munaco Lanscaping.
Daniel tracked the origin of the skid steer to the construction site after doing some detective work of her own in the neighborhood.
"It’s brand new. I think we had it for like two or three months.” Munaco said. “Just as easy, someone can drive it out of a parking lot, they can drive it onto a trailer and in 30 minutes, it’s gone.”
The stolen equipment was found Tuesday evening in an alley near Garfield and Grandy streets in Detroit. The suspect has not yet been found.
“I feel terrible about the fence," Munaco added.
Both parties say they informed Detroit police of the theft and property damage.
Daniel, who was in the process of beautifying her front yard in honor of her father who died recently, just wants the person caught and to realize what they've done.
“You just, out of nowhere, just come and you come do this and keep going and so I’m just, I’m still at awe about all this here," Daniel said.
