George Floyd's NYC Statue Being Repaired After It Was Vandalized For The Second Time, NYPD Hate Crime Task Force Investigating
Oct. 4 2021, Published 2:08 p.m. ET
George Floyd's statue in New York City has been vandalized twice since its unveiling in June, although it is now being repaired by community members who decided to step up and protect the piece.
On Sunday, someone threw blue paint on the bust that defaced it. Authorities caught the crime on surveillance video and are taking action.
The Co-Founder of Confront Act, Lindsay Eshelman, who collaborated with Floyd's brother Terrence to produce the statue, quickly showed up at Union Square to check on the damage after learning about this weekend's vandalization. She claimed she was pleasantly surprised to see at least five community members had already sprung into action to help to restore the figure.
The concerned citizens were artists, art lovers, and tourists who cleaned the mess by hand and with toothbrushes. One of them was Eric Garner's son, whose dad was killed after an NYPD officer put him in a prohibited chokehold while arresting him.
While waiting for the installation to be completed, which will take approximately 30 more days, Lindsay and Confront Art organization are working on getting a watch group known as "keepers" to look after the statue to prevent the vandalism from happening again.
They're planning to put watchers on 7 AM to midnight shift to help things in order after the park closes as the NYPD has allegedly told them they "won't step up security or patrols."