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'People do care': Neighborly act puts twist on usual snow parking stories

BOSTON -- Eileen Murphy had a reason to be concerned. Parking spots during a snow storm can bring out the worst in people. We’ve told you many times about fights and acts of vandalism involving parking spaces in South Boston.

Thursday morning, Murphy assumed somebody had smashed her window and then covered it up.

“Maybe a rock or a plow or whatever had hit the car,” Murphy told us about when she noticed something flapping on her window. “Then I peel it back and I said, ‘you idiot. You left the window down.’”

Someone didn’t damage her car. They tried to protect it. A stranger went out of his or her way to make sure the inside wasn’t soaked in the storm after she left her window down.

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“What an operation that took. I mean, I’ve never even seen this kind of tape. I don’t even know what this is,” she said, looking at her car.

Whoever did this took the time to do it right. There was a thick, black trash bag with painter’s tape, so when you peel it off the car it doesn’t leave any residue.

“It’s nice, people do care,” Emily Zalewski told Boston 25 News.

Zalewski is Murphy’s neighbor. In January, somebody got upset and keyed her car over a parking space. So seeing this has helped restore her faith in humanity.

“It’s a very sweet story. I love that neighbors are helping each other out,” she said.

Murphy turned to Facebook to thank the anonymous stranger. Her post in a Southie community Facebook page garnered dozens of comments and more than a hundred likes.

“I was surprised at how far [the post] went and how much faith it helped reinstate in some people,” she said. “Everybody was really thrilled.”

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