MPD press release on street mural vandalism

from MPD Chief Manjit Sappal

On July 4th, community members obtained a permit from the City to paint Black Lives Matter on Court Street in downtown Martinez. Once the mural was completed, an unidentified white male and white female arrived. While the male made comments to a group of onlookers his companion began painting over the mural with black paint. At one point she made a statement that this was not, “…happening in my town.” She also asked the male to get her another can of paint to continue with the act of vandalism. It appeared that the couple came to the mural with cans of paint and a roller with the specific purpose of vandalizing over the mural.

The community spent a considerable amount of time painting this mural only to have the suspects destroy it by dumping and rolling paint over part of the message. The incident was captured on video and posted on YouTube. Please see the following links:

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CCPwY8Eh3GP/?igshid=1bz0cg6xz8ht1

MPD was notified and by the time we arrived the suspects were gone. A witness provided a photograph of the suspect’s vehicle which was described as a Nissan pickup truck with the word “NICOLE” on the right side of the tailgate in silver lettering. The truck has a camper shell and the license plate is 52701B1.

The case is currently under investigation and if any members of the public can identify the
male and female involved in this incident please call our Dispatch Center at 925-372-3440
with the information.

The community spent a considerable amount of time putting the mural together only to
have it painted over in a hateful and senseless manner. The City of Martinez values
tolerance and the damage to the mural was divisive and hurtful. Please help us identify
those that are responsible for this crime, so they can be held accountable for their actions.

15 Replies to “MPD press release on street mural vandalism

    1. What city official authorized a city street paid for by all tax payers to be defaced with graffiti that the same tax payers will have to pay city workers to clean up. Come on Martinez, stay out of politics and run your fine city for everyone.

  1. Why are thy letting people put political murals on the street. Who ever gave them the permit to put it on the street should be fired. The streets are not there for promoting political agendas. Which is totally what drives the Black lives matter agenda. It should be removed.

  2. What’s so troubling is that this guy shouts to people that there is no racism in America and that they should study history, citing the Emancipation Proclamation. Okay, lets take a look at history. Reconstruction, Jim Crow, segregation, lynchings, KKK, civil rights movement, etc. Sadly, its this sort of ignorance that winds up putting a man so infinitely unqualified and incompetent into the position of President of the United States.

  3. Black Lives Matter is a hateful, Marxist organization that wants to destroy families, end the ownership of private property, and essentially end the entire way of American life. They are manipulating black liberals, making them think they care about racial equality and justice. They don’t. See for yourself. Do some research.

  4. “On July 4th, community members obtained a permit from the City to paint Black Lives Matter on Court Street in downtown Martinez.”

    Does this mean that if some group applied for a permit to paint ‘White Lives Matter’ on the street in Martinez they would be given the permit?

    Before you pull a muscle screaming ‘racist!!’ take a breath and realize this question has nothing to do with race and everything to do with Constitutionally guaranteed free speech.
    The City opened themselves up for someone to do exactly what I asked about by allowing anyone to paint a political message on public streets. They have turned the surface of the street in to a public forum and by law MUST allow all viewpoints to be expressed no matter how bigoted they are.

    Of course the City could deny the permit and then face the possibility of paying out millions in a civil rights lawsuit that the City would almost certainly lose.

    By allowing ‘Black Lives Matter’ on public streets the City of Martinez has backed themselves in to a legal corner that will either cost them millions or allow all manner of nonsense to be painted on public street.
    Somebody didn’t think this through in their rush to show off how ‘woke’ they are…

  5. All Lives Matter

    The (blm) movement has been co-opted by the DNC to funnel money into election campaigns and not the communities and people of color that need it most.

  6. What is this “community” you keep referring to? Do you mean the BLM activists that probably don’t even live in Martinez? They should have never received a permit to paint the city streets and the optics of scheduling it for July 4th, after canceling the annual 4th of July events when the city knew the streets would be empty and no one would know about it, are very, very BAD!

  7. Black Lives Matter Clan promotes racism. Why would anyone allow that to be painted as a mural is beyond comprehension. If you disagree that it does not promote racism just listen to the video when one person says all lives matter and the blm protester replies “no they dont”. I may be wrong but it seems the only thing that matters is attitude and respect not race or color of skin.

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