Trump sign vandalized with hate symbol on Massachusetts highway, cops say. Arrest made
A man accused of vandalizing a large Trump sign with a hate symbol had black spray paint on his hands when officers visited his Massachusetts home, according to a police report.
The owner of the sign, which displayed former President Donald Trump’s last name, reported to police on Oct. 30 that it had been painted with a black swastika, a Cohasset Police Department report provided to McClatchy News says.
Then, on Oct. 31, a detective received a tip about a post on the Nextdoor app that showed photos of a man drawing the symbol on the political sign located along Route 3A in Cohasset, a coastal town about a 20-mile drive southeast from Boston, according to the report.
This led officers investigating the vandalism to Frederic B. Laidlaw’s home in Cohasset on Oct. 31, the report says.
When Laidlaw, 74, answered the door to officers, including Cohasset Police Chief William Quigley, at his door, he said “guilty,” according to the report.
The report says he asked them “What took you so long?”
Laidlaw was arrested on a charge of defacement of property, police said in an Oct. 31 news release.
Information regarding his legal representation wasn’t immediately available.
“Without questioning,” Laidlaw “admitted to spray painting” the sign and “apologized several times” before he was taken into custody, the police report says.
The Trump sign was owned by Kevin O’Donnell, who is the chair of the Cohasset Republican Town Committee, NBC Boston reported.
“I just thought we were above that. I just thought that wouldn’t occur in this election, or any election — there’s no Nazis in America,” O’Donnell told the outlet.
Laidlaw was due to appear in court Oct. 31 for an arraignment, according to police.
The police report says the case “remains open and under investigation regarding any hate crime and or civil rights violations.”
The Cohasset Police Department alerted the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office’s Civil Rights Division of Laidlaw’s arrest.
This story was originally published October 31, 2024 at 5:09 PM with the headline "Trump sign vandalized with hate symbol on Massachusetts highway, cops say. Arrest made."
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