‘Nighttime nailer’ terrorized drivers with nails on Oregon roads for years, cops say
After terrorizing Oregon City drivers for two years, the area’s so-called “nighttime nailer” has been captured, according to police.
Patrol officers caught Bret Michael Wilson, an Oregon City 56-year-old, as he purposely tossed nails from his car onto a street on Tuesday around 5:30 a.m., police said in a Facebook post.
“He was very calculated in what he was doing,” Oregon City Police Capt. Shaun Davis said, according to KOIN. “The officer was a little shocked he was actually watching this happen.”
Police in the city south of Portland said “over the last two years, someone had been intentionally throwing roofing nails onto local streets, primarily in the early morning hours while it was still dark outside.” While no one was hurt by the littered nails, the nails did damage drivers’ tires.
Wilson admitted to tossing nails onto roads more than 50 times over the last two years — and not just on busy streets in Oregon City, but also “throughout the metropolitan area,” police said.
Lisa Balick of KOIN confronted Wilson as he got into his car, asking him: “Can you tell us why you were doing this with the nails?”
He shook his head gently and got into the car, video posted on Twitter shows.
In the past week alone, the suspect tossed nails on several stretches of road in the city just before 6 a.m., according to police.
KATU reported that “nails were dumped on streets more than a dozen times between January 2018 and October 2018 and Oregon City was offering a $1,000 reward for information on a suspect.”
Wilson was booked at the Clackamas County Jail on Tuesday on four charges of disorderly conduct, according to police. The cases will be submitted to the District Attorney’s Office.
One person thanked police on the Facebook post announcing the arrest — which has been shared hundreds of times — and wrote that “I’m pretty sure I was one of the many people who had to purchase new tires because of this guy.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2019 at 9:11 PM with the headline "‘Nighttime nailer’ terrorized drivers with nails on Oregon roads for years, cops say."
