Nails left in Utah street damage multiple cars' tires

Megan Marsden Christensen, KSL – HARRISVILLE (KSL) - Multiple Harrisville drivers sustained damage to their car tires Monday after a large amount of nails were left in a road near Orion Junior High School.

Amanda Hardee was one of the unfortunate drivers that drove near 425 West and 2000 North.

"We had four tires that were completely unrepairable and then just due to the fact that it's hard to switch just one tire on one car (with) things like that we have to replace all 8 of our tires on our two cars," she said.

Hardee said there is only one street that comes in and out of her neighborhood, and most of the people she has talked to got nails in their tires as well.

Lt. Keith Wheelwright with the Harrisville Police Department said last time he looked, there were around 10 or 12 reports of vehicle damage due to the nails in the street, but there are still more reports coming in.

The nails were about an inch or an inch-and-a-quarter long, Wheelwright said.

"We're not going to say for sure it was accidental or intentional but after speaking with the people in the area that first found the pile of nails it looked more like a pile of nails in the road that was kind of spread off to the side consistent with something that may have fallen off a vehicle," he said.

Jennifer Jensen with the Harrisville City Council said the city of Harrisville is offering a $500 reward to anyone who has information that would lead the city to finding out who was responsible for the nails being in the roadway.

A boy who was walking from Orion Junior High to a seminary class across the street stepped on a nail. After that incident, the seminary teachers took their students outside and they picked up most of the nails they could find in the road, Wheelwright said. He estimates they picked up about 500 nails.

The students found most of the nails on 425 West near a crosswalk that leads to the junior high, according to Wheelwright. The road sits between the school and the seminary building.

The student who stepped on the nail was poked in the foot by it and Wheelwright said police are still following up on that.