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3 teens arrested for leaving scooter skid marks on painted Spokane Pride intersection

Three teenagers have been arrested after they allegedly vandalized a Pride flag-painted intersection in Spokane, Washington by leaving skid marks with the Lime scooters they were riding on.


Police received a 911 call about multiple people on scooters "causing damage to the newly painted Pride mural" on June 5 just after 9 pm, according to the Spokane Police Department.


Four suspects were reportedly seen damaging the mural, while several witnesses said that one of the subjects yelled obscenities at them before leaving the area.


Officers said the damage to the mural was "black scuff marks consistent with scooter wheels," and that these marks were left across the mural. The mural had recently been repainted after a May 16 incident in which multiple people dumbed a liquid on the mural and set it on fire, according to KREM.


Around 30 minutes after the 911 call, officers arrested three suspects who matched witness descriptions and video surveillance.


19-year-old Ruslan V.V. Turko was charged with first-degree malicious mischief and was booked into the Spokane County Jail. Two minor suspects were issued the same charge and booked into the Spokane County Juvenile Detention Center. The charge in Washington is a class B felony.


A woman who said she witnessed the incident, Kaylee Gaines McGee, told the outlet, "we’re not gonna sit by as we watch people deliberately commit a hate crime like right in the middle of downtown."


"We see that you have done this thing," McGee said. "People don't just go and do that without intention. You don't destroy symbols without intention behind it."


Turko was released under the condition that he does not go near the mural or speak with the other teens arrested. Prosecutors had sought a $15,000 bail.


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