Fact check: Florida man who defaced pride intersection was not charged with hate crime

Chris Mueller, USA TODAY
Updated ·3 min read
377

The claim: Florida man charged with hate crime for vandalizing pride crosswalk

An April 3 Twitter post (direct link, archive link) shows footage of a pickup truck spinning its tires and leaving black marks on a rainbow-painted crosswalk.

"Florida man charged with a Hate Crime for using his pickup truck to ruin a Pride Crosswalk," reads the tweet.

The tweet was liked more than 30,000 times and retweeted more than 1,000 times. Another version of the post was shared on Facebook.

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Our rating: False

The driver of the pickup truck was not charged with a hate crime. Prosecutors considered it after his arrest but ultimately decided against including an enhancer that raises potential penalties for crimes when there is evidence of prejudice.

Prosecutors determined Florida's hate-crime law didn't apply to case

Alexander Jerich was arrested in June 2021 after witnesses saw and recorded him doing an intentional burnout in his pickup truck over a rainbow-decorated intersection and crosswalk days after it was unveiled to the public in Delray Beach, Florida. The crosswalk was intended to celebrate the LGBTQ community, according to The Palm Beach Post.

Police recommended that Jerich, a 20-year-old at the time, be charged with criminal mischief and reckless driving, including a hate-crime enhancer that would increase the potential penalties.

But Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg chose not to apply the hate-crime enhancer, explaining that Jerich's actions didn't meet the state's definition of a hate crime, according to WPTV, a local TV station.

"The law requires that the defendant select a specific victim based on sexual orientation," Aronberg said at a news conference. "Since the Pride streetscape is the property of the city of Delray Beach, the city is the named victim. Since a city has no sexual orientation, the state's hate-crime enhancement law cannot apply."

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Jerich was charged with felony criminal mischief and misdemeanor reckless driving, charges to which he later pleaded guilty. While awaiting sentencing, Jerich was ordered by a judge to write a 25-page essay about the Pulse nightclub shooting, a gay nightclub in Orlando where 49 people were killed in what was then the nation's deadliest mass shooting.

People gather June 12, 2021, for the dedication of a pride intersection in Delray Beach, Florida.
People gather June 12, 2021, for the dedication of a pride intersection in Delray Beach, Florida.

In June 2022, Jerich was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service, The Palm Beach Post reported.

USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the post for comment.

PolitiFact and Reuters also debunked the claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Man who defaced intersection not charged with hate crime