ORLANDO, Fla. — A confrontation occurred between a protester and an FHP trooper at the Pulse Memorial crosswalk this morning, and the tense moments were all captured on camera.
Cellphone video provided by a protester shows the trooper stopping a protester from coloring the crosswalk with chalk, “Right now that’s going to be criminal mischief right here.”
The protester named Todd didn’t want to give us his last name, but says they called Orlando Police for help when the trooper wouldn’t listen.
He explains what the trooper told him. “Said this was my only warning. If I didn’t stop he was going to cite me on criminal mischief. He could see it isn’t paint. Not paint.”
Law enforcement had previously informed protesters that they could use chalk instead of paint.
In this instance, FHP states that the trooper was not recent updated about the chalk policy but has now received that information. Subsequently, two troopers returned to Pulse and informed protesters that chalk was permitted.
Over the weekend, FDOT repainted the crosswalk twice, once covering rainbow paint and once covering chalk.
Sources say it costs FDOT $2,500 to repaint. City Commissioner Patty Sheehan says it’s a waste of taxpayer dollars painting over all the crosswalks.
“They’re having us take away improvements that we finished less than two weeks ago that we paid for that is government waste and efficiency.”
But Governor Ron DeSantis says it’s about safety. “The roads are there for either pedestrians to cross or cars to go and that’s what it’s gonna be and so Jared and his team are just ensuring that the law is upheld”
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