Report: Wis. GOPer’s Car Damaged By Random Stone, Not Vandals

State Sen. Dan Kapanke (R-WI)
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It’s looking like the alleged vandalism of Wisconsin State Sen. Dan Kapanke’s (R) car may not have been as bad as people were led to believe. In fact, it may not even have been vandalism at all.

Kapanke, one of the Republicans being targeted for recall by Democrats in the wake of Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) newly-passed law curtailing public employee unions, had previously said his car’s windshield was smashed in Madison, allegedly on March 9 – the day that the bill was passed. He has also stated that he has received death threats, and that nails were scattered on his driveway back home.

Now, the Capital Times reports that police who inspected the vehicle have characterized the damage to his windshield as only a crack, consistent with a stone that would have been picked up in the tire of another car and then thrown behind.

A Kapanke staffer told the paper that lawmakers were asked to report anything out of the ordinary to the Senate Chief Clerk or the Capitol Police, and that the environment around the Capitol was tense at the time.

After inspecting the vehicle March 16, the officer told Kapanke the “chip and the crack” looked like a stone chip and “not someone hitting the windshield,” according to the police report.

The report indicates two officers with the State Highway Patrol, including an accident reconstruction specialist, also examined Kapanke’s windshield.

They determined “the angle of the impact of the object hitting the windshield is consistent with a stone being picked up from another vehicle tire and launched into the air,” causing the crack.

On March 16, another officer with the Capitol Police reviewed video from a parking garage camera located near Kapanke’s car. The officer reported no one was seen near Kapanke’s car or damaging the windshield March 9.

Democrats have already filed their recall petitions against Kapanke, claiming that they have more than enough signatures to trigger a recall.

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