A middle school social studies teacher in Rhode Island was placed on leave after he was charged with defacing a statue of Christopher Columbus.
Jenks Middle School teacher Derrick Garforth was arrested Saturday for throwing objects at a statue of Columbus in Providence, which police officers had been surveilling in case of vandalism. The objects thrown caused paint to splatter across the statue, according to police.
Garforth was also placed on leave while school officials in Pawtucket investigate the situation.
“I have just learned about this, and the Pawtucket School Department is investigating it,” Pawtucket Superintendent Cheryl McWilliams said.
The scene unfolded Saturday morning around 1:30 a.m. when officers saw a car with Massachusetts license plates driving slowly by the statue. Police reported that 10 minutes later, they saw a man and woman run toward the statue, throw objects at it, and then run off.
Police identified the two people as Garforth and Charlotte Whittingham, 28. Law enforcement officers identified a third suspect, Mackenzie Innis, 26, as the driver of the car that passed the statue earlier.
Derrick Garforth is listed as a social studies teacher with the Pawtucket School Department.
“I have just learned about this and the Pawtucket School Department is investigating it,” said Superintendent Cheryl McWilliams in an email.
Story: https://t.co/ijCccUHoe3 pic.twitter.com/TTG8x8uaAK
— Anita Baffoni (@AnitaBaffoni) June 13, 2020
The car was later stopped, and officers found white and purple paint, gloves, and masks in the car. The paint matched the colors found on the statue.
Statues across the country have been desecrated and torn down in the wake of unarmed, black man George Floyd’s death in Minnesota while he was in police custody. In Boston, police found a statue of Columbus beheaded last week, another Columbus statue in St. Paul, Minnesota, was destroyed, and another in Richmond, Virginia, was also pulled down.
The destruction and vandalism of statues has gone beyond those depicting Columbus. Confederate War statues have been toppled, the Victims of Communism Memorial in Washington, D.C., was defaced during protests that turned violent, and the Lincoln Memorial, World War II Memorial, and others have also been defaced.
All three suspects in the Providence incident have been charged with desecration of a grave or monument and conspiracy and were arraigned and released.
