Home Owner pays for sons damage to common area

We have young man who is a menace to the community. He is 19yrs, ,don't work, been in and out of jail, caught on camera stealing and damaged the community monument. Over the holidays he stole a vehicle and while he was chased by police he ran into our community monument causing 12k in damage. Unfortunately, the HOA did not have insurance to cover the common area so the Home owners will have to cover the cost. My question is can we go after his parents to cover the cost. He did not steal their car it was someone else's and we know it will be a waste of time to go after him. The community feels we should send a letter to the parents to pay for the repairs. Is it appropriate to ask them to volunteer payment before we attempt legal. Our fear is we don't have legal recourse against the parents.

Yes, I saw it posted twice. Don't know why. We are going to contact the community lawyer to see if we have recourse. The Board member wanted to draft a letter to the parents to see if they would volunteer to pay. Home owners are responsible for the damage their guest and family members do to property and we wanted to give the parents the opportunity first.

Actually more likely the prosecutor

Does he live with his parents? Is he does they invited him to the property and should be responsible for the damage he caused. You should also make sure it is reported to the police.

That’s not how it works in the US. The owner of the stolen car is not responsible for damages to a third party.

The son is an adult. You first go after any insurance he may have (auto).

If the son is living with the parents or staying on the property without paying rent, then a case could be made (depending on the wording of your governing documents) that the owner is responsible for the actions of their family, guests and tenants. Might take legal action.

But the son is the menace.

Has it been made clear here WHO owns the house where the son lives? If the parents, your documents probably say that the Ones pay for any damage done by their guests, tenants, invitees, etc.

Our docs state that owners are responsible forr their guests, invitees, tenants. An adult son of an owner drove through our metal gates causing $5300.00 in damages. With our entry video we were able to identify the car/driver. We contacted the owner who admitted that her son "had a problem". The board held a hearing at which time she was given the opportunity to defend/deny (she did neither). We assessed her account with the cost of repairs, suspended her privileges to amenities (pool) and she paid it off over a year. The cost of a review by our association attorney was also added to her account. Litigating in court would've cost much more time & money.