With the amount of confidence an unidentified man had to throw paint on the George Floyd statue in New York City’s Union Square Park earlier this month (in broad daylight, by the way), I wouldn’t be surprised if he thought he’d never get caught.
However, it seems that he did get caught on Monday, according to the New York Police Department. Micah Beals, 37, was arrested and charged with criminal mischief. PIX11 News reports that a criminal complaint accuses Beals of vandalizing the bronze bust of George Floyd,
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The Root reported that a surveillance video caught an unidentified man riding a skateboard past the statue and throwing gray paint onto it on Oct. 4. It was the second time that the monument was vandalized— the first being when it was covered with black paint and a white supremacist group’s logo while on display in Brooklyn, N.Y., in June.
According to CNN, a Manhattan District Attorney’s Office spokesperson, Caitlin Fowles, said that Beals was arraigned after midnight on Tuesday. He was released on his own recognizance, meaning he was set free on the guarantee he would show up to his court date without having to post bail.
Beals is expected in court on Nov.1.
From CNN:
The cost to temporarily restore the bust was around $2,000 and the cost to fully restore it will be about $20,000, according to the complaint.
The bronze bust of Floyd is part of Confront Art’s “SEEINJUSTICE” exhibition.
A team of volunteers was on the scene cleaning up the Floyd statue shortly after it was vandalized, Confront Art co-founder Andrew Cohen said earlier.
“They went to the hardware and bought supplies out of their own pockets,” he said. “This is inspiring teamwork and support from the community.”
Imagine being so bigoted that you deface the statue of a Black father who was brutally killed under the knee of an overzealous officer. George Floyd never got his day in court, but Micah Beals definitely will and I can’t wait to hear what he has to say for himself.
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