The NYPD is searching for the individual who illegally cut down a tree on Wednesday that had stood in front of 352 E. 8th Street, between Beverley Road and Avenue C (66th Precinct).
The perpetrator, who has been identified by neighbors as "Francisco," is shown chopping down the twenty-foot tall ginkgo tree on a surveillance camera on a neighboring building. It may be that his motive wasn't to steal the bike that was chained to the tree but rather to destroy the tree, which was in front of the apartment building he used to live in.
Parks Department workers have cut up the tree to dispose of it. One less tree in Brooklyn.
The story is covered by The Smoking Gun and Gothamist.