Photo via u/imagepoem/Reddit
June 23, 2021, 10:15 am
A Florida man and Trump supporter has been arrested and faces a hate crime charge after he was caught on tape intentionally skidding his tires over a crosswalk painted in the Pride colors, leaving large black skid marks over the mural before driving away. He did this in a white pickup truck flying a pro-Trump flag as the vehicle behind him filmed the whole thing.
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The short video then ended up on Reddit claiming this was done to celebrate the former president’s birthday, which was on June 14.
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According to local news, this occurred at the LGBTQ Pride Intersection in Delray Beach, Florida. The driver was identified as Alexander Jerich, who turned himself in to police on Thursday after the video clearly showing his license plate went viral. He has been charged with criminal mischief causing over $1,000 in damage, reckless driving, and “evidence of prejudice”—a hate crime charge that could bump what would have been a misdemeanor into a felony.
“There are many things that indicate this is a hate crime targeted against the community,” said Nicholas Coppola, one of the people responsible for the Pride crosswalk’s creation. “I hate to say I was saddened, but not surprised. There’s a part of me that expected it. Unfortunately, we deal with this every day.”
The Palm Beach County Human Rights Council has additionally requested that Jerich be charged with defacing a memorial, as the painting was dedicated to the 49 victims of the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando in 2016. Ironically, this would be under a new “anti-riot law” passed by Governor Ron DeSantis in order to protect Confederate monuments that became targets of anti-white supremacy protests last summer that pushes vandalism to a third-degree felony if it occurs on “a historic property or memorial.”
The Delray Beach crosswalk painting had its official ribbon cutting on June 12, 2021 — the five year anniversary of the mass shooting. The vandalism occurred just two days later, where additional witnesses say that Jerich’s pickup truck was just one of a 30-vehicle convoy called the “President Trump Birthday Rally.” One individual claimed they heard someone yell to Jerich something like “tear up that gay intersection.”
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The State Attorney’s Office had reportedly said that they will make a decision on the final charges against Jerich and whether he will indeed be charged with a felony as soon as the middle of next week.
*First Published: June 23, 2021, 10:15 am
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