Contractor moves cars out of way with forklift

Everyone in New York knows touching someone else's car is a big no-no, so maybe the construction company at the center of a forklift fiasco didn't get the message because Fox 5 found out it happened again.

Cornell Tech MBA student Julian Ferdman showed Fox 5 the damage to his 2011 Lexus: scratches, scrapes and dents totaling over $2,000 in repairs. He said he parked it legally late Thursday night on South 3rd Street. He then came back Sunday to find it gone.

A neighbor took a photo of Ferdman's car after it was forklifted on to the sidewalk. It was issued two $115 parking tickets and because it was on the sidewalk, was towed to a city pound. It cost Ferdman another $139 to get it out.

Neighbors say the Lexus was forklifted on Friday at virtually the same spot where one week earlier Susan Pellegrino's 2004 Infiniti was forklifted and damaged. She told Fox 5 the construction site developer, Two Trees Management, has offered to pay for the repairs. Video taken by a neighbor shows the Infiniti, which was parked on South 3rd Street, being scratched in the process.

"Bumper, there is a huge gash on it. The logo, gone. There may be undercarriage damage that we could see when we took pictures," Pellegrino said. At first, she thought her car might have been stolen from the legal parking spot. She ended up finding it down the block.

A spokesperson for Two Trees Management told Fox 5 they pride themselves on being good neighbors, and have reprimanded the subcontractor responsible.

The NYPD said that it is illegal for anyone other than authorized city agencies to physically move parked cars from one location to another.