Despite all the change brought by the last five years, Kingston, God bless it, is still a tight-knit community. That fact is one of the things your Editorial Team loves most about Kingston; in an era of accelerating social disintegration, communitarianism of many different stripes thrives here. One thing universal among tight-knit communities is they support, nurture and become very protective of their beloved local institutions. This explains the strong interest in what happened at Rough Draft Bar & Books two weeks ago.

As we reported, in the early morning hours of April 24, the outdoor seating at Rough Draft, which has been there since the pandemic hit five years ago, was demolished by what video would reveal to be a white pickup truck. While the KPD worked to track down the driver, Kingstonians showed their support on both social media and our website. That wasn’t surprising — since opening in 2017 in the colonial-era stone building at the corner of John and Crown streets which once housed Kingston Academy, Rough Draft has become one of Uptown’s most popular places to have a coffee (or beer) and a sit and buy a book or two from their well-curated collection.

“Something tells me this was no accident,” read a comment on Kingston Wire. “And are any of us protected from the giant pickup trucks that are regularly speeding through Kingston?”

“This is disturbing,” wrote another commenter. “I hope the destruction was accidental, though it seems unlikely. Sending all good juju to Amanda, Anthony, and everyone who works at and enjoys Rough Draft.”

One week later, Kingston police announced the arrest of Ulster Park resident David A. Naccarato, 31. Naccarato was the man behind the wheel, police allege; he was charged with misdemeanor fourth-degree criminal mischief and violation leaving the scene of a property damage accident. The misdemeanor is Class A, the most serious variety. The next charge up, third-degree criminal mischief, is a Class E felony; felony charges, even the least serious variety, are a different world of seriousness and consequences. One thing we wonder, though: According to state Penal Law, once damage from the mischief in question tops $250, it goes from misdemeanor to felony. While it’s been a minute since we’ve priced fences and picnic tables, considering how much everything costs these days, your Editorial Team is a little surprised the damage came in below $250. As far as we know, the Penal Code is not adjusted for inflation.

Police didn’t provide a motive, but as we see from the comments above and elsewhere, there’s widespread suspicion that the attack on Rough Draft, a safe space for progressive causes, was no accident. The charges themselves seem contradictory: calling mischief “criminal” certainly implies intent, but the leaving the scene of an “accident” charge implies the opposite. Either way, it’s yet another indication of the times we live in, where people’s minds go to intentional evil to explain things a lot more quickly than they go to more prosaic theories. (We’re pretty sure that the deer who crashed through the front door of Uptown’s Hudson Coffee Traders 10 years ago acted on its own, but who knows? Maybe it was an operative of the Venison Liberation Front striking a blow against human oppression … )

Or maybe we were all just triggered by the hit-and-run aspect. In the past few years there have been three high-profile car vs. pedestrian fatalities — one in Saugerties, one in Rosendale and one in New Paltz — where the driver tried to get away with it by getting away from it. It took a while to track down the drivers in the Saugerties and New Paltz incidents, but they were found, arrested, convicted and sentenced. Charges are still pending against the driver involved in the Rosendale incident, the most recent of the three. As for Naccarato, the fact that he took off after the crash suggests if not confirms that he did it on purpose. If it was an accident, why didn’t he stay and call the police himself, which he would have to do for insurance purposes? Or, as we sometimes see in fatal hit-and-runs, maybe he was under the influence and figured a leaving-the-scene charge was better than a DWI.

Next to housing, pedestrian and cyclist safety has been the biggest story we’ve covered, reflecting the deep concern the community has for this subject and, despite what one might read in the comments sections, the drive to make Kingston’s streets safer for all. Keeping this in mind, we’d like to send a message to anyone who hits something or someone and wants to run: Don’t do it. We understand panic and we understand fear of the consequences, but it will be better for everyone involved, including yourself, if you do the right thing, stay and help if possible. There are cameras everywhere now, so your chances of getting away clean are not as good as you might think. If we may paraphrase Chris Rock, if you make the police chase you, they’re bringing a legal butt-kicking with them.