A motorcyclist documented himself burning tire marks into the “Pride Progress Flag” painting on a busy intersection in Boynton Beach on the second day of pride month, police say, the latest in a series of incidents targeting LGBTQ street murals.
About 1 a.m. on June 2, a witness heard loud screeching noises and watched as a man in dark clothing and a helmet spun his tires multiple times over the rainbow streetscape on the intersection of East Ocean Avenue and Southeast First Street in Boynton Beach, according to a police incident report. The motorcycle left four long black marks on the painting, causing $500 in damage.
The city dedicated the $12,000 pride flag project in June 2021, a few days before Delray Beach dedicated its own pride flag streetscape.
“Over the past 30 years, the LGBTQ community in Boynton Beach and Delray Beach has gone from being nearly invisible to being tolerated, to being acknowledged, to being granted equal rights and benefits, to having our families recognized, and now, to having the diversity of the LGBTQ community publicly celebrated,” Palm Beach County Human Rights Council President and founder Rand Hoch said in a statement after the two cities announced the dedications of the projects. “That is quite an achievement.”
A man burned tire marks into the Delray Beach mural one day after it was unveiled.
After making the burnouts on the Boynton Beach streetscape, the man got off of his motorcycle and appeared to take pictures of the marks, according to the police report. His helmet appeared to have a camera mounted on it, according to surveillance footage from the Boynton Beach Police Department’s Real Time Crime Center.
The report describes him as white, with a medium build, wearing a black hoodie with white lettering, his helmet covering his face.
The man left the scene after taking the pictures, heading westbound on Ocean Avenue.
Investigators sent around a “be on the lookout” alert within the police department, but with no results, the report says. They also searched social media in case the man had posted pictures or video of the burnouts, but didn’t find anything.
Four days ago, police shelved the case without a suspect. It is now “inactive pending any further investigative leads,” a detective wrote in the last update to the report on Friday.
The June incident joins a series of similar crimes targeting pride street murals in Florida.
In February, a man burned tire marks onto the LGBTQ pride flag painted on Sebastian Street between State Road A1A and Seabreeze Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, causing over $1,000 in damage. His passenger recorded him doing it, according to the police report.
The investigation into that incident is still active and ongoing, said Det. Ali Adamson, a spokesperson for Fort Lauderdale Police. Police still have not announced a suspect.
The incident is not believed to be connected to the one in Boynton Beach, Adamson said.
Meanwhile, the 20-year-old Lake Worth man who burned tire marks into the pride flag street mural in Delray Beach was sentenced to two years of probation, 100 hours of community service and a mandatory mental health screening. He was also ordered to write a 25-page essay on the victims of the massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando and hate against the LGBTQ community.
