During the past few football Saturdays, Suzanne Holdridge has returned to campus parking lots to find some unpleasant surprises.
After the Notre Dame game on Sept. 18, she found the window of the van she'd had for two months smashed, and a friend's purse that was hidden below the seat stolen.
"You don't expect it at Michigan State football," said Holdridge, a 1970 MSU alumna. "You're happy, you're having a good time."
Parked nestled in the trees of Lot K, Old College Field, Holdridge's van wasn't the only one broken into. The car next to hers also had a smashed window.
Between Oct. 9 and Saturday, a 1997 Airstream travel trailer in Lot 61 by Spartan Stadium also had its rear window and three side windows smashed. A 57-year-old East Lansing resident with no university affiliation said an unknown suspect caused $400 in damage.
Friday night just before midnight, a 41-year-old male from Bellevue was delivering pizza to East Holden Hall when he returned to the parking circle and found the passenger window of his 1990 Plymouth Voyager smashed. Nothing was stolen but the damage amounted to $200.
And Holdridge said she saw the damage of two cars broken into Saturday between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. on the northwest corner of Lot 67, near Jenison Field House. A 42-year-old Farmington Hills woman and a 35-year-old Yale woman reported the shattered windows in the 2002 Ford F150 and the 2002 GMC Denali. Unknown suspects also stole purses from both.
Also on Saturday, a trash can was thrown into the rear window of a 1999 Oldsmobile Alero, shattering the glass and damaging the frame. It is unknown if any items were stolen from the vehicle parked in a lot south of Holden Hall, but the incident caused about $800 in damage.
MSU police Sgt. Florene McGlothian-Taylor said such incidents are more difficult to prevent on football Saturdays.
"Normally I would say do not park in an isolated area, but on football Saturdays, there are thousands of vehicles parked," she said.
Similarly, apartment complexes are often targets for the often called "smash-and-grabs" because of the high concentration of cars, East Lansing police Capt. Juli Liebler said.
McGlothian-Taylor also encouraged those in the lots to be on the lookout for suspicious activity.
"If anyone sees it happening, they should report it immediately," she said.
Some of the suspects in the recent MSU incidents didn't take anything from the vehicles after they smashed windows.
But regardless of whether anything is stolen from the vehicles, Holdridge said the incidents were a shame.
"You hate to come back wondering, 'Gee, do I have a car to ride home in?" she said. Her passengers had to ride home from the Notre Dame game wearing sunglasses because of stray shards of glass.
To report a crime on campus, call (517) 355-2222. To report a crime in East Lansing, call (517) 351-4220.
