While perhaps Empire State permits lawlessness within its borders, the same cannot be said about the Sunshine State.
Bodycam footage from a Monroe County, Florida, sheriff’s deputy shows the moment when he arrested Richard Brothers, a New York resident visiting the Florida Keys, on a felony charge of damaging property to express his political position.
Any liberals thinking about a trip to Florida should take a look.
According to the Gateway Pundit, which cited a sheriff’s office report, Brothers, of Syracuse, New York, had visited a Winn-Dixi supermarket on March 24 where he spotted a truck with a “Let’s Go Brandon” that “infuriated” him.
(“Let’s Go Brandon” is a phrase that took root in October 2022 among critics of President Joe Biden when an NBC reporter heard a crowd at a NASCAR race at Alabama’s Talladega Superspeedway Talladega chanting “f*ck Joe Biden” and apparently confused it with the crowd chanting support for driver Brandon Brown Brown. She said the crowd was chanting “Let’s go Brandon.”)
The man then whipped out his key fob, striking the green Toyota Tundra and causing more than $6,000 in damages, according to the Gateway Pundit.
His acts were caught on security cameras, making the crime a matter of record, and its alleged perpetrator fairly easy to identify. The owner of the Tundra wanted to press charges.
On March 26, according to the Gateway Pundit, the deputy approached Brothers to question him at his vacation home in Summerland Key, about 25 miles from Key West. After the deputy read him his rights, the New Yorker initially tried to play dumb.
He said he’d gone to the supermarket to “went to pick up some coffee in key lime pie,” obviously not the information that the deputy was probing for.
The visitor then mumbled about how he thought it was raining that day, something the deputy noted was not true, prompting Brothers to admit he doesn’t remember.
However, once the deputy mentioned the vehicle and pushed a little, Brothers immediately admitted that he “scratched it.”
The deputy questioned his reasoning behind doing so, asking if it was the bumper sticker.
Brothers admitted it was.
Eventually, the deputy informed the New Yorker that he would be placing him under arrest for a felony charge as Brothers lamented how “stupid” his actions were.
Because the damage was over $1,000, the criminal mischief is a felony under Florida law, the deputy explained, after putting Brothers in handcuffs.
“Normally, I would get a warrant for you,” the deputy said. “But since it’s a felony and it just happened two days ago, I don’t need a warrant.”
After Brothers was placed in the vehicle, another deputy approached the arresting deputy.
“What was his excuse? That he doesn’t like Trump?” he asked.
“Pretty much,” the arresting deputy said. “He said he saw the bumper sticker and it infuriated him so he keyed the car.”
“Well, that’s going to cost him,” the second deputy said.
“Like $6,000,” the arresting deputy said.
It’s understandable that seeing a bumper sticker from the opposing side may annoy someone.
Trust me, when I see a Biden-Harris sticker on the road I make sure to not drive near them as I assume they’re not right in the head.
Nonetheless, disagreements on politics do not permit vandalism or any other violation of the law.
Perhaps Brothers adopted the above-the-law mentality from President Joe Biden but unfortunately for him, when the courts are run by competent people and crime, not Soros-funded district attorneys, that doesn’t fly.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
