See this story at BrooklynDaily.com.
By Scott Hansen
Brooklyn Daily
A vandal scrawled neo-Nazi slogans and racist slurs on the statue of Dodger great Jackie Robinson outside MCU Park in Coney Island Tuesday night, and cops are scouring the borough for the culprit.
The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the vandalism of the icon statue of Robinson and his teammate Pee Wee Reese that stands outside the home of the Brooklyn Cyclones, but have yet to collar the scoundrel responsible.
“[The vandalism] was a biased act and consisted of anti-Semitic remarks,” said Detective Kelly Ort. “The Hate Crimes Task Force is currently investigating the crime but has not made any arrests.”
The grotesque graffiti marring the base of the statue included “F--- Jackie Robinson,” “Die n----r,” and even “Heil Hitler” and a swastika scribbled with a black marker.
Cops from the 60th Precinct found the vandalism at 8:30 am on Wednesday and a cleanup crew quickly arrived in the hope of removing the vile verbiage before the Cyclones game in the afternoon. When their initial efforts failed, the workers covered the slurs with duct tape and a tarp until more effective graffiti-removal equipment could be brought to bear.
In addition to facing charges of defacement of public property and hate crime charges, the police may impose a lifetime ban from MCU Park, Ort said.
Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball when he joined the then-Brooklyn Dodgers from 1947—1956, winning a World Series in 1955. The statue honoring him was erected in Coney Island in 2005.