Ontario family's basketball net destroyed by snowplow won't be replaced by city

A basketball net in a Richmond Hill, Ont. neighborhood gets a lot of use by the Ribeiro family and kids who stop by to use it.

“You come here on a nice day and there will be 15 kids shooting baskets and having games. We live on a cul-de-sac so they come from different streets stopping by and have fun,” said Pete Ribeiro.

Ribeiro said when they are not playing basketball they are watching the Toronto Raptors, their favourite team.

“We are big Raptors fans. We watch literally every game here at home with the whole family and like to go to games when we can,” said Ribeiro.

Last month when Ribeiro was turning into his driveway he noticed the basketball net had been knocked over and broken in half and he wasn’t sure what happened. That’s when he checked his doorbell security camera.

“I decided to take a look at the cameras and see what it might have caught and there it was I was shocked actually. The snowplow went by and it ripped the net and literally sliced it in half and tore the whole thing down," said Ribeiro.

Ribeiro said he was shocked that the snowplow operator didn’t stop after knocking down the net or that other snowplows that were following behind didn’t stop either.

"To drive away and just damage something like that I wasn't happy about that," said Ribeiro.

The base of the basketball net was on Ribeiro's property, but the hoop portion of the net was overhanging the street. When Ribeiro reached out to Richmond Hill officials, he was denied compensation because by-law enforcement told him the net was encroaching on city property.

A spokesperson told CTV News Toronto “We understand the resident’s frustration and we apologize for the damage to the basketball net and inconvenience to the family. “

“The City makes every effort to avoid causing property damage during winter maintenance operations and endeavors to contact residents when situations do arise. In this case, the basketball net was within the City’s municipal right-of-way with the net overhanging the road, which did not provide enough clearance for the plow and is in violation of the City’s Highway Obstruction By-law.”

“The plow operator, who was hauling snow away from the court, was focused on safely navigating around an oncoming vehicle when the upright wing hit the net. The driver was not aware his truck had hit anything, nor were either of the plow operators behind him as they were coming around the cul-de-sac, and so they drove away and did not report it to a supervisor for follow-up with the homeowner.”

“The City is not responsible for damage to private items placed on City property and as such, the resident was informed the City would not be providing reimbursement” said the spokesperson.

Ribeiro said that he was frustrated the city refused to compensate him for the damaged net and in the end bought another replacement basketball net at a cost of $700.

“They kept nagging me. ‘Dad, when is the net coming back up?, When is the net coming back up?’ and I thought I can't keep these kids from playing, so I did go out and buy another one,” said Ribeiro.

If you have a basketball net, hockey net or other piece of equipment make sure it's kept off the street and doesn't "over hang" or "encroach" onto city property because if it gets clipped by a snowplow chances are you won't be compensated for damages.