Manhattan grand jury brings hate crime charges against Colorado man accused of spray-painting swastika on Charging Bull statue
By Larry McShane
New York Daily News
Mar 15, 2023 at 6:46 pm
Surveillance video shows poncho-wearing man draw swastika on City Hall, police said. (New York Daily News Handout)
A Colorado man was indicted Wednesday for a hate-fueled 2021 spree where swastikas were painted on Wall Street’s landmark Charging Bull statue and a nearby pharmacy, prosecutors announced Wednesday.
James Ryan, 40, was also charged with drawing the Nazi symbol on a gate outside City Hall and scrawling an anti-Black slur at the same downtown location.
“Hate has no place in New York City and these offensive and damaging actions will not be tolerated,” said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. “As alleged, James Ryan put emblems of hate on a city building and one of Manhattan’s most iconic symbols.”
Police released images of a poncho-wearing man draw, who authorities said scrawled swastikas on City Hall and the famed Wall Street bull.
Police released images of a poncho-wearing man draw, who authorities said scrawled swastikas on City Hall and the famed Wall Street bull. (NYPD)
Ryan, of Limon, Colo., was identified as a homeless man after his arrest on Dec. 17, 2001. The indictment charged him with three felony counts of criminal mischief as a hate crime and three felony counts of aggravated harassment.
The defendant, who had one prior arrest for reckless endangerment in 2001, was caught on surveillance video wearing a poncho as he defaced the internationally-known bronze sculpture situated on Broadway in Lower Manhattan.
The work of art, 11 feet high and 16 feet long, debuted in December 1989 and became an instant tourist attraction, with crowds lining up daily for photos at the busy site.
The City Hall incident occurred around 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 13, 2021, followed a day later by Ryan allegedly spray-painting a swastika and a racist slur on a Financial District CVS pharmacy in the afternoon.
Six hours later, the video captured the defendant vandalizing the Wall Street statue.
According to Bragg, the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force was involved in the bringing the suspect to justice along with officers in the First Precinct. The DA’s office currently has 20 open cases linked to anti-Semitic hate crimes, he added.