2-ton Target cement ball rolls through NJ parking lot

WPVI logo
Friday, February 3, 2017
7 on your Side: Concrete Target ball damages woman's car
Nina Pineda has 7 on your Side.

PARAMUS, N.J. (WPVI) -- It looked like a scene from an Indiana Jones flick. A big red boulder, the 2-ton logo of one of the world's largest retailers, rolling across one of their busiest parking lots, causing thousands in damage. But who's responsible to make this right? Check out the video, you be the judge.

Keep your eye on the ball, the first in a row guarding the gate to the Target location in Paramus, New Jersey.

The video was shot by a Target parking lot surveillance camera. You can watch as a pick up truck bumps the ball, jarring it loose, the ball starts to roll into traffic, and smash! Right into a moving car.

"All of sudden I hear this crash and a really loud noise," Eileen Grady said. She thought she ran something over, but it was the 2-ton bollard bouncing of her driver's side door.

It ricochets and keeps on rolling. A brave man jumps out of his car to stop the ball, followed by his dog.

A red dent in her Nissan Rogue was left behind. Grady says the impact also shot a nail out of the ball into her rear tire.

"It's about $3,500 in damage," Grady said.

She filed a claim with Target insurance company, which was promptly denied. Paramus police responded, but couldn't make out the truck's plate on the video. After watching the video, Grady doesn't even think the driver knew he dislodged the ball.

The video shows that it took three men to roll the ball across the parking lot. But they leave it balanced right outside the store exit.

A Target employee places a cone near the ball, but he walks away leaving it unattended, first, for 24 seconds. Then again, while he chases a loose shopping cart, for half a minute. In the lapse, a child even hops on top of the unsecured 2-ton ball.

After seeing the video, 7 On Your Side asked Target to reconsider Grady's claim, but unlike its ball, the nationwide retailer wouldn't budge.

And just days ago, 7 On Your Side found another bollard at the same location had apparently broken off. Target wouldn't tell 7 On Your Side or county consumer officials what happened to it or whether anyone was hurt. They only said they knew about these incidents and will re-check the bollards at the store.

Grady's next stop? She says she'll be filing against Target in small claims court, and 7 On Your Side will be there.