Police are investigating after discovering nearly 500 large nails positioned with their points up on streets and roadways in Falmouth, Massachusetts.
Police gathered hundreds of nails that could have done serious damage to residents’ vehicles after an officer noticed them around 2:00 a.m. on Friday, WJAR reported.
In a social media post on Friday, the Falmouth Police Department detailed the discovery and said Officer Chapman was patrolling John Parker Road when he saw the nails on the roadway.
The agency said:
Officers checked the area on foot and located more nails on Clark Street, Old Barnstable Road, and Prince Henry Drive. Some nails were positioned under vehicle tires in driveways. Officers with the help of the DPW collected 478 nails. If you have any information or camera footage of this incident please contact Officer Chapman.
The police department included photos of the nails positioned with their sharp ends up and the gathered nails in a box:
At approximately 2am Officer Chapman was patrolling John Parker Road when he observed nails lining the roadway. Officers…
Posted by Falmouth Police Department on Friday, April 18, 2025
Social media users were quick to share their thoughts, one person writing, “People are absolutely sick! This is so dangerous. I hope they find whoever did it.”
“Excellent work! Hopefully, someone has camera footage of the culprits,” another user replied.
Another person praised the police officer for spotting the nails and gathering them up to make sure residents did not come into contact with them.
“I am very impressed by the officer noticing this and following through to find so many, especially in driveways. Great job to this officer!” the user said.
A woman who found some of the nails underneath the tires of her car told NBC 10 Boston she had heard of mailboxes being smashed but had never heard of someone putting nails in the roadway.
Another neighbor said, “It could have created an awful accident, you know? A blowout, car goes off the road, hits a tree or a pole.”
However, he came up with a solution to make sure there were no nails in his area.
“I have a big magnet and I dragged it back and forth on the road down there,” he explained.
