Hundreds of roofing nails dumped in St. Petersburg roadway destroy car tires

by: Chip Osowski

Posted: Jan 31, 2022 / 05:21 PM EST

Updated: Feb 1, 2022 / 07:34 AM EST

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) – A number of drivers who traveled down Pasadena Avenue South last Tuesday around 10 a.m. are sharing in their frustration. Several have lashed out on social media including Elaine Goller.

"Some of the people on Nextdoor only replaced two tires or one and it was 800 dollars a tire," said Goller. "And there were 80 or 90 people who responded and someone else said that there had been 70 tires that had been affected. "

It was about that time that a roofing contractor dumped hundreds of roofing nails on the roadway. Several of the drivers affected called police, but officers who responded told them it was not a criminal matter and there wasn't much they could do. They did call a street sweeper to pick up the remaining nails.

Goller remembers the instant she hit the nails. It was raining and she couldn't really make out what they were.

"I heard a honk, and a car went swerving around me and the next thing I know, there was a thump and loud noises and I thought something was wrong with my car," said Goller. "It was raining and I thought I should just go to my destination a couple of blocks away and I got out and looked and I saw that my tires had been completely studded!"

She counted 72 nails in her left front tire. She estimates there may have been just as many in the other front tire.

Billy Mott is a service advisor at Pasadena Car Care Center just down the street from where the nails were dropped in the roadway. A number of drivers stopped thereafter rolling over them.

"It was the exact same time and then there were other cars that were coming that were driving down the road that didn't even know that they went through them," said Mott. "Sounded like tap-dancing shoes going down the street.