Man Held in Vandalizing of 6 Police Cars

A disgruntled Granada Hills man unleashed a furious attack with an ax handle on six Los Angeles police patrol cars Sunday night, smashing windows, headlights and light bars before he was subdued, police said.

Robert Lee Sarnecky, 25, shouted that he was angry because he had been ignored by front desk officers at the Los Angeles Police Department’s Devonshire Division in the 10200 block of Etiwanda Avenue in Northridge, police said.

In retaliation, he went to the parking lot behind the station, using an ax handle to dent hoods and doors and to break every window in six of the 12 patrol cars parked there, said Connie Trout, a desk officer.

Trout disputed the man’s claim of having been ignored. “My partner and I have been on the front desk the whole night and he never entered the front door,” she said.

Officer John Hughes saw Sarnecky swinging the ax handle when he left the station about 7:15 p.m. Hughes returned for help and he and another officer wrestled the man to the ground, police said.

Sarnecky was arrested on a charge of felony vandalism and was being held at the station in lieu of $5,000 bail.