A 19-year-old Florida man has been arrested after he was caught vandalizing an LGBTQ Pride mural painted at an intersection in Delray Beach, Florida. Dylan Brewer was caught on digicam doing burnouts via the intersection a number of instances. In addition to the surveillance footage, a number of bystanders additionally recorded him and despatched the movies to police experiences the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Brewer has since been charged with each felony legal mischief over $1,000 and reckless driving.
In information that may most likely shock nobody, he was additionally reportedly flying a Trump flag off the again of his truck, due to course he was. Such a brazen show of bigotry has “Trump supporter” written throughout it. Unfortunately, because the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council identified, whereas such acts ought to most likely be thought of hate crimes, underneath present legal guidelines, that’s not the case.
This isn’t the primary time a homophobic Florida man defaced the mural, both. A day after it was unveiled in 2021, Alexander Jerich vandalized the mural along with his truck as a part of a birthday rally for (yep, you guessed it!) Donald Trump. Jerich pleaded responsible, however was solely given probation and compelled to jot down a 25-page essay concerning the Pulse nightclub capturing that befell in Orlando again in 2016.
“I think a big problem is with our judiciary who doesn’t understand hate crimes are hate crimes, whether or not they fit the specific definition of the law,” stated Rand Hoch, the council’s president and founder advised the Sun Sentinel. “There needs to be consequences so people know if they commit crimes like this, they are going to jail, they are going to be fined, they are going to have to suffer from what they did. Right now, we don’t seem to have it.”
The Palm Beach County Human Rights Council and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation paid about $16,000 to have the mural put in. Restoring it after Jerich’s vandalism value about $8,000, and based on Hoch, repairing the harm Brewer precipitated will possible value an analogous quantity. Anyone who want to assist with the mural’s restoration can donate to the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council right here.
Source: jalopnik.com