Manhattan skateboarder arrested for defacing Union Square George Floyd statue

A former bit-part actor from Manhattan was arrested Monday for defacing a statue of George Floyd in Union Square earlier this month.

Micah Beals, 37, is believed to be the skateboarder caught on video Oct. 3 in a beanie and headphones splashing a cup of white paint on the large bust of the Minnesota man killed by police.

Beals, who had bit parts in single episodes of “Parks and Recreation” and “CSI: NY,” was taken into custody at 4:30 a.m. at his third-floor apartment on the Lower East Side. He was charged with criminal mischief.

The attack was the second time the Floyd statue was defaced. In June, four men wearing bandanas spray-painted white supremacist graffiti on the statue when it was on display in Brooklyn’s Flatbush Junction.

Police could not say if Beals was connected to the earlier incident.

Beals, who wore his hair in a black mohawk and was dressed in a black hoodie, black long shorts and black slippers, was ordered released without bail at his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court early Tuesday.

Just as he was released, though, detectives swooped in to take him into custody for questioning in another crime. Police sources said the investigation may have involved an ammo clip in his possession.

Beals has prior convictions in Michigan, California and Washington state, prosecutors said.

Floyd was murdered May 25, 2020, by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. His death sparked nationwide protests.

The statue, which was installed by Confront Art as part of its “Seeinjustice” art series Oct. 1, is made of a special plywood often used in boat-building, called okoume marine grade.

It stands alongside similar busts of the late congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis and Breonna Taylor, a Black medical worker fatally shot by police in her Louisville, Ky. home March 13, 2020.

The bust is covered in bronze metallic exterior paint. It is meant to represent a global understanding of injustice and how it can lead to action and change.

“Confront Art would like to thank the NYPD for their incredible work in putting this case together, leading to Micha Beals arrest,” Confront Art co-founder Lindsay Eshelman said Monday. “We do not consider this just an act of vandalism, but also an act of hate, and we continue to focus on the message that this exhibit stands for, which is unity, healing, and using art as a conversation catalyst.

“Although the defacing of the statue was a disappointing day, we’ve experienced 30 days of true community building, joy and positivity from New Yorkers and visitors alike, and no vandal can deter from that,” she added.

The art instillation will be on display in Union Square Park until Oct. 30.

With Molly Crane-Newman