Man arrested for allegedly vandalizing George Floyd statue

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October 5, 2021

By Biba Adams, The grio

Michael Beals has been charged with criminal mischief for defacing the bronze-finished bust of Floyd on Oct. 3 in Union Square Park.

An arrest has been made in connection with the vandalism of a statue of George Floyd in New York City…

Michael Beals, 37, has been charged with criminal mischief in the vandalism of a statue of George Floyd, which took place on Oct. 3 in Union Square Park, New York City. (Photo: Screenshot/New York City Police Dept.)

The statue was moved to Union Square Park earlier this summer just over a month after it was unveiled on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn at a Juneteenth celebration. It was also defaced in that borough five days after being installed, marred with black paint and the alleged logo of a white supremacist group. Local residents and members of the Floyd family cleaned the statue, and it was relocated…

The Union Square display also features statues of the late civil rights pioneer and Georgia Congressman John Lewis, as well as Breonna Taylor, the Louisville, Kentucky, woman killed by police on March 13, 2020. Neither of those statues has been vandalized.

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