(PatriotWise.com) — As happens every Pride Month, many cities in the US and Canada paint the rainbow colors in a crosswalk, typically in predominantly gay neighborhoods. And every year, police are called to investigate tire marks and graffiti left on them.
The Blaze reported last week that Kirkland Police in Washington state were asking for the public’s help in identifying two suspects who damaged the rainbow crosswalk that had been unveiled at the start of Pride Month.
According to the Kirkland Police Department, surveillance images captured a white Toyota SUV driving over the Pride flag crosswalk deliberately leaving skid marks on the paint on June 20 at around 11:40 pm.
Police identified the vehicle as a late-model Toyota Sequoia with a roof rack. According to the surveillance images, two “suspects” were in the SUV at the time. Police said the “suspects” are wanted for “malicious mischief” and “reckless driving.”
Meanwhile, in Edmonton, Canada, police launched an investigation last week after skid marks were left on the recently-unveiled Pride crosswalk in Leduc, CTVNews reported.
The Royal Canadian Mounties are investigating the incident, which occurred on Saturday, June 24, as vandalism.
In a press release last Monday, Constable Cher-Lee Smith, a spokeswoman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said while the motive is “difficult to determine” without knowing who the suspect is, the skid marks demonstrate a “hateful” and intolerant “attitude” toward “the 2SLGBTQ+ community.”
Leduc’s Pride crosswalk had only been unveiled the week before the incident.
On Tuesday, the Central Saanich Police Department in Vancouver, Canada said it was investigating after the Pride crosswalk near a school in Brentwood Bay was vandalized with graffiti overnight, CTVNews reported.
The graffiti was quickly removed.
Just last week, a Pride crosswalk near a recreation center in nearby Saanich was also vandalized with graffiti.
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