Officials Believe Vandalism Of The New Brooklyn George Floyd Statue Is Hate Crime

The destruction of a new George Floyd Statue in New York is being investigated as a possible hate crime, according to police, who say vandals vandalized the memorial with the website of a white nationalist group.

“Black spray paint was utilized to deface the sculpture (face) and conceal lettering on the pedestal,” the department stated of the early Thursday incident in Brooklyn.

The Patriot Front website was stenciled with white spray paint, according to police. The Southern Poverty Law Center describes Patriot Front as “a white nationalist hate group” with origins in the fatal far-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.

A week ago, the statue on Flatbush Avenue was dedicated as part of the Juneteenth celebrations. A George Floyd monument in Newark, New Jersey, was also damaged lately, according to NBC New York.

Four persons were seen strolling in the neighborhood of the Brooklyn statue at the time, according to security footage released by the NYPD.

The Hate Crime Task Force of the New York Police Department was looking into the incident.

Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of killing George Floyd, was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison on Friday.

Floyd, a Black guy, was murdered on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin, a white man, knelt for 912 minutes on his neck.