An out-of-work actor has been charged with vandalizing a statue of George Floyd in a New York City park.
Micah Beals was charged with second-degree criminal mischief for allegedly throwing gray paint on the face and base of the statue on the morning of Oct. 3 in Union Square Park in Manhattan, the New York Police Department’s hate crime unit reported.
Beals, 37, was arrested earlier this month after police found surveillance footage of a person mixing paint near the park and then hurling it onto the statue.
Beals could face up to seven years in prison and hefty fines if convicted of the felony charge.
Oct. 3, 202100:51
Using the stage name Micah Femia, Beals has had bit parts on “Parks and Recreation” and “CSI: NY,” People magazine reported.
Beals first appeared on “CSI: NY” in 2005 and was in the 2013 movie “Pop Star,” according to IMDb.
The statue of Floyd, whose murder by a Minneapolis police officer sparked nationwide protests, had also been vandalized on June 24, when it was on display in Brooklyn.
“I heard the news about the vandalism,” Terrence Floyd, Floyd’s brother, said at the time. “I was so proud that I got word that Flatbush held it down. They really supported us, looked out for the statue, looked out for the spirit of my brother.”
“You try to stop us, but you can’t stop us,” he said. “And we still gonna continue, with love.”
Confront Art, the group behind the statue, said people spent hours cleaning the paint off by hand, some using toothbrushes.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
