Actor Micah Beals arrested in vandalism of George Floyd statue in NYC
A person has been arrested after he was accused of defacing a bronze statue of George Floyd in New York Metropolis this month.
Micah Beals, 37, was charged with legal mischief after surveillance video confirmed a white man on a skateboard splash grey paint on the statue within the metropolis’s Union Sq. then fleeing on Oct. 3, the New York Police Division’s hate crimes process drive tweeted Monday.
Below the stage title Micah Femia, Beals has performed small roles on “Parks and Recreation” and “CSI: New York,” the Sacramento Bee, The Hill and People Magazine reported. Beals first appeared on “CSI: New York” in 2005 and starred within the 2013 film “Pop Star,” according to IMDb.
Beals’ lawyer, Rebecca Heinsen of Authorized Help society, instructed USA TODAY she had no remark.
This month’s incident wasn’t the primary vandalism of the statue memorializing Floyd, whose homicide by a Minneapolis police officer final yr led to nationwide protests demanding police accountability and reform. 5 days after the statue was unveiled on Juneteenth, it was defaced with black paint and the brand of a bunch outlined as white supremacists by the Southern Poverty Regulation Heart, a nonprofit authorized advocacy group.
The group that put in the statue cleaned it. Shortly after it was vandalized once more in October, a workforce of volunteers gathered to once more clear the statue.
“At present was robust, however the great thing about right now was that after we arrived to refurbish the statue, we discovered neighborhood members and allies already onerous at work, out of their very own goodwill, scrubbing and dealing to honor the integrity of the artwork and the facility of the topic,” community arts organization Confront Art said.
The statue of Floyd is a part of Confront Artwork’s SEEINJUSTICE exhibit.
The group thanked the NYPD in a statement after the arrest, saying: “We don’t contemplate this simply an act of vandalism, however an act of hate.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Twitter that she had directed the NYPD’s hate crimes process drive to assist examine.
“This act of cowardice and hate is reprehensible,” she stated.
“The defacing of Floyd right now did not come as an entire shock, although it’s fairly upsetting to us all,” the statue’s artist, Chris Carnabuci, said in a statement Oct. 3. “Actions like this remind us that we now have an extended solution to go, and we’ll by no means cease preventing.”
Contact Information Now Reporter Christine Fernando at [email protected] or observe her on Twitter at @christinetfern.