NEW YORK CITY (WPIX) — After a statue of George Floyd was vandalized Sunday morning in Union Square, the New York Police Department released surveillance video early Monday of a man dousing the statue with paint.
According to police, the unidentified man riding a skateboard approached the statue in the south plaza of the park around 10:15 a.m. and threw the gray paint, splashing it on the face and base of the monument.
The statue is one of three monuments by artist Chris Carnabuci that were unveiled in the park Thursday.
The “SeeInJustice” art installation also includes statues of Breonna Taylor, who was shot and killed by Louisville police in March 2020, and Georgia Rep. John Lewis, the prominent civil rights leader who died last year.
Floyd, a Black man, died on May 25, 2020, after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly 9 minutes.
Video shows the vandal riding off on his skateboard, heading north on the west side of the park.
The NYPD said its Hate Crime Task Force was investigating the incident.
This is the second time the Floyd statue has been vandalized. In June, the statue was defaced with black paint and marked with the logo of a white supremacist group while on display in Brooklyn.
Members of the group that installed the statue painstakingly cleaned it before it was moved to Union Square. Carnabuci told the New York Times then that he repainted all three statues before they went up in Union Square so they would be easier to clean if they were vandalized.
No arrests had been made in connection with Sunday’s incident, police said. The investigation remained ongoing.
Authorities described the suspect as a man with a medium build, last seen wearing a black hat, dark green jacket, a neon green T-shirt, black shorts, black and white sneakers, and a green backpack.
Submit tips to police by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), visiting crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, downloading the NYPD Crime Stoppers mobile app, or texting 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. Spanish-speaking callers are asked to dial 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).