Video released by cops early Monday captures the moment a vandal on a skateboard tossed paint on a George Floyd statue in Union Square.
The clip caught the unidentified suspect ducking behind a nearby statue of the late Rep. John Lewis around 10:15 a.m. Sunday and messing with something in his backpack before he skateboarded toward the Floyd installation.
He is shown hurling gray paint on the face and base of the Floyd bust and then riding off, heading north on the west side of the park.
Two people — apparently an adult and child — were standing nearby as the suspect flung the paint, thwarting the adult’s attempt to take a photo of the statue, the footage shows.
The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the incident.
Images released by the NYPD show the vandal defacing the statue. DCPIThe suspect is described as a male with a light complexion and medium build, last seen wearing a black hat, a dark green jacket, a neon green T-shirt, black shorts, black and white sneakers and a green backpack.
A vandal throws gray paint at the statue of George Floyd in Union Square Park.DCPIA photo posted on Twitter shows what appears to be paint splattered on the statue that was also defaced days after it was first unveiled on Juneteenth in East Flatbush, Brooklyn.
The statue was recently moved to the Manhattan park.
Police are looking for this man seen in a surveillance video. DCPI