A statue of baseball legend Jackie Robinson stolen from a Kansas park was found dismantled and burned in a trash can fire Tuesday morning in what authorities called a “disgraceful” act, as the search for the perpetrators continues.
The statue was taken from McAdams Park in Wichita last week. Surveillance video captured individuals entering Jackie Robinson Pavilion around midnight on Thursday, removing the statue and placing it in a pickup truck. They cut off the statue at the ankles, leaving behind only Robinson’s feet, with damages estimated to be around $75,000.
Around 8:38 a.m. local time on Tuesday, the Wichita Fire Department responded to a report of a trash can fire at Garvey Park, according to Wichita police spokesperson Andrew Ford.
After extinguishing the fire, they found what appeared to be pieces of the Robinson statue, “which is not salvageable at this time,” Ford told reporters during a press briefing Tuesday.
The Wichita Fire Department is investigating the arson, while police continue to investigate the theft, Ford said.
It seems too stupid to be related, and yet I would not be surprised to learn the culprits were in some way motivated by the vandalism of the Captain Cook statue in Melbourne.
I mean - I know. Anti-colonizer vandalism is not the same thing as a potential hate crime, but it doesn’t seem to be a very considered crime.
Were you huffing the Jackie Robinson trash can fire?
Depends - does it motivate one to make inane vitriolic comments online?
It seems you may have mistaken another person at the fire for me.
No it makes you draw random connections between two events on literal opposite sides of the Earth, undertaken for completely different reason.