Roosevelt Island Fall For Arts Festival Black Lives Matter 3D Mural Damaged - Was It Deliberate Hate Crime Or Weather Related Accident?

This morning, a tipster out for a walk noticed that the Roosevelt Island Fall For Arts Festival Black Lives Matter 3D Mural at the Rivercross Lawn was damaged. The letter V panel was removed leaving Black Lies Matter instead. The Tipster added:

This should be investigated by NYPD as a hate crime.

I asked the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Acting President Shelton Haynes and Public Safety Chief Kevin Brown:

 Is Rioc investigating what happened? 

RIOC spokesperson Jessica Cerrone reported: 

I have the letter and it will be re-attached. 

The Tipster added: 

Public safety called me after my report, saying Jessica had found the letter on the lawn, and that they think it’s weather related (again).

The Tipster says "again" because several weeks ago the Black Lives Matter 3D mural was knocked over and damaged, as were several other murals. At the time, RIOC attributed the incident to an overnight wind storm. 

Reacting to today's incident, the Black Lives Matter 3D Mural artist Savior Elmundo said:

I don't know what happened. Hope it was not a negative thing that someone did on purpose

. I spoke with Mr Elmundo about his mural last month.

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Meet Roosevelt Island Fall For Arts Festival Black Lives Matters 3D Mural Artist @saviorelmundo. Click on link in bio to subscribe to Roosevelt Islander Daily Email Newsletter for latest information received in your Inbox 9pm each night.

A post shared by @ rooseveltislander on Oct 3, 2020 at 5:02pm PDT

Will update when more info received.