Austin Christopher, 23, has been charged with trespassing and felony criminal mischief for driving his pickup truck onto Harvest Hill and Bob-O-Link golf courses. Police said Christopher was upset after his girlfriend dumped him.
A 23-year-old man has been charged with causing over $50,000 in damage after driving his truck on the Harvest Hill Golf Course in and Bob-O-Link Golf Club in Orchard Park, N.Y., the Buffalo, N.Y.-based WIVB News 4 reported.
Police said Austin Christopher’s motive in the incident was a broken heart after his girlfriend dumped him. Christopher has been charged with trespassing and felony criminal mischief for driving his pickup truck onto the golf courses and doing several “donuts,” News 4 reported.
Managers at Harvest Hill Golf Course say the damage there tops $50,000 because the 9th green was destroyed. Luckily for Bob-O-Link, the damage was contained to the practice area, but it will still take thousands of dollars to repair, News 4 reported.
“The cops called me at about 3:30 in the morning. The vehicle came down the hill and did about three or four large donuts in the middle of our 9th green here,” Harvest Hill superintendent Eric Tuchols said. “It kind of hurts. Kind of hurts our morale here, too.”
The damage could have been even worse. The driver at first drove up to the 18th green, before apparently changing his mind and heading over to the 9th. But when he drove past that spot, he was caught on camera, News 4 reported.
“They have an extensive video surveillance system and were able to identify the individual and vehicle involved,” Orchard Park Police Chief Mark Pacholec said.
After a neighbor heard the noise around 3:30 a.m. and called 911, police nabbed Christopher in his truck on nearby Transit Road, which Tuchols said still had turf stuck to it. “I went down to the police station and actually found some of our grass on the truck for the detective,” Tuchols said.
Christopher quickly bailed out of jail but it was short lived once East Aurora Police learned what happened to the Bob-O-Link golf course. East Aurora Police say Christopher paid Bob-O-Link a visit that night as well, doing a few donuts in their practice area. Officers said he was upset because his girlfriend dumped him, News 4 reported.
“There’s no reason for it. And it’s just disappointing when something like that happens,” Bob-O-Link manager Joe Ference said.
Both golf courses are still open. At Harvest Hill, there is a temporary 9th green, News 4 reported.
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