STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Staten Island artist Scott LoBaido was taken into custody Tuesday after pouring red paint on the sidewalk outside Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office in a protest against the official’s crime policies.
LoBaido, whose public demonstrations have previously resulted in arrest, told the Advance/SILive.com that Bragg’s approach to reducing penalties for crimes he deems minor would only diminish the safety of New York City residents.
“Everybody is b------- about why we have all this crime and murder,” said LoBaido. “It has to do with the f------ criminals who are let loose on the f------ streets through the revolving doors of justice because of woke district attorneys, bleeding heart district attorneys, like Alvin Bragg.”
LoBaido poured red paint on the sidewalk outside the building on Hogan Place in Manhattan symbolizing the blood allegedly shed by Bragg’s policies. The paint was placed alongside a pink jacket that he said represented an 11-year-old girl recently shot in the face in the Bronx, a pair of shoes that stood for a woman who was fatally pushed in front of a subway train and a police hat memorializing the officers killed in a Harlem ambush late last week.
Police said LoBaido was issued a cease summons around noon and that no injuries were reported during the incident. The 56-year-old artist said he was briefly detained and then let go. He is due in court on Feb. 14.
Bragg recently came under fire for his “soft-on-crime” policies that borough officials said would let criminals dodge time for certain offenses.
Staten Island District Attorney Michael E. McMahon said that the “pollyannish thinking” by Bragg is especially dangerous as shootings and gang violence in communities, as well as violent incidents in schools, continue to endanger the lives of young people.
He said that the district attorney’s office on Staten Island would continue to fully prosecute crimes on the merits of each case, emphasizing “we will never institute blanket policies which simultaneously disregard the laws set forth by our state Legislature, ignore the rights of victims, and seriously threaten public safety as a whole.”
Bragg called the criticism of his policies a “misunderstanding,” according to the Daily News.
His office did not immediately respond for a request to comment on Tuesday’s incident.
LoBaido has been front-and-center at numerous Staten Island protests, including an anti-mandate demonstration outside the borough’s Sanitation Department garage.
He said he was briefly placed in a cell Tuesday, adding, “I had a statement to make.”