Park City Police are searching for suspects after the iconic bear bench in Park City was vandalized late last week.
According to Park City Police logs, the vandalism occurred shortly before 11pm on January 14th. The iconic Franz the Bear bench at 562 Main Street had been tipped over, damaging a natural gas meter, causing a leak, and an estimated $500 in damage.
Park City Police Captain Phil Kirk says there are currently no suspects and investigators are working off of limited evidence as no security camera footage has been obtained. He says thankfully, vandalization is not a common crime in Park City.
“Fortunately, this doesn’t happen very often,” he says. “I’ve been here for a number of years and I don’t recall the bear being vandalized. In this case, the bear was just really knocked over from its mounting and the real damage was caused to the gas meter. I’m not aware of any security footage. I provided you some photographs, but those were not from security surveillance video cameras, they were just ones that we took.”
The statue is located just across from the Old Town Transit Center along one of the main walkways connecting it to Main Street.
The Park City Police Department is asking for anyone with information on the vandalization to call the department’s dispatch at 435-615-5500.
