JACKSONVILLE, Fla — A 35-year-old man was arrested Monday after people saw someone spray-painting “Slave Owner” on the base of the statue of President Andrew Jackson on Independent Drive, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said.
The incident was the first of two graffiti attacks on the downtown statue that occurred within hours of each other, leaving it and its base with red-painted phrases.
Danilo Kim Quilaton Jr., whose address is listed as San Francisco but who has lived in Jacksonville, was charged with criminal mischief and possession of marijuana — actually cannabis-infused gummies, according to his arrest report. He was released on bail early Wednesday, police said.
The first vandalism to statue of America’s seventh president this week occurred about 4 p.m. when witnesses told officers they saw a man defacing it. The man was followed to Hogan and Forsyth streets and stopped until officers arrived, police said.
According to Biography.com, Jackson had about 150 slaves working at his Tennessee plantation at the time of his death in 1845.
A laptop computer, cellphone and a book on Anarcho-syndicalism were seized from Quilaton’s backpack, then released to his father, the report said. Quilaton is listed as a senior product designer at Twitch, a live-streaming platform for gamers.
Police are still searching for whoever caused the second vandalism after “Remember May 28 1830” was found painted on the statue’s base early Tuesday. The words on the base signify Jackson’s signing of a law 190 years ago that authorized the forcible relocation of Native-American tribes, according to iowaculture.gov.