A 31-year-old man has admitted to slashing the tires of nearly 50 vehicles in Boulder, including tires on nine law-enforcement cars, claiming radiation from Rocky Flats, speeding police cruisers and being forced to wear braces on his teeth made him do it.
Alexander Kabelis of Boulder was taken into custody at 7:15 p.m. Thursday after an employee at the Community Police Center on the Hill, 1310 College Ave., noticed the suspect crouching behind a Suburban parked outside.
Officer Bryan Parch investigated and noticed one of the Suburban’s tires was hissing loudly and deflating rapidly.
Parch followed Kabelis a few blocks, and then, with the help of other officers, arrested him in the 900 block of 12th Street.
Boulder Police department spokeswoman Sarah Huntleysaid Kabelis admitted puncturing the tires of nine police and sheriff’s vehicles and 37 other cars in Boulder.
The tire slashings began April 24 but escalated earlier this week, Huntley said.
In a series of interviews with Parch, Kabelis voiced frustration with his place in life and how slashing tires helped relieve the frustration.
He said he targeted the police Suburban, which was assigned to Parch, because he “was frustrated with the current state of his relationship to his mother and that he was also angry for having his driver’s license taken from him by law enforcement several years ago,” according to Parch’s police report.
Parch said he asked Kabelis why someone matching Kabelis’ description was captured on videotape slashing tires at the police station and Boulder County Jail.
“Alex replied, ‘Maybe cause it was me’.”
Kabelis told Parch that “the sight of the patrol vehicle made him frustrated as he reflected on his difficulties in his life. As a result he decided to ‘pop’ one of the tires.”
After slashing the tire, he said he felt better.
“He stated he typically took out his frustrations on vehicle tires after being buzzed by police vehicles,” the arrest affidavit said.
Kabelis also told investigators that his desire to slash tires may stem from “braces he was fitted with in the late 1990s at the behest of his orthodontist or dentist. He felt it was either that or the radiation poisoning he suffered as a result of his proximity to the Rocky Flats nuclear production facility located near Denver,” the affidavit said.
Huntley said that Kabelis explained to officers that he felt he was being “buzzed” by police cars when they whizzed by him on the street.
Police found a black-handled steak knife in Kabelis’ pocket.
Kabelis, who was wearing a white bandanna on his head and a black backpack on his back when arrested, was booked into jail on multiple charges of criminal mischief and carrying a concealed weapon. He is being held on $6,500 bail.
Police said the total damage caused by the suspect’s alleged tire slashing rampage is $12,936.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
