The investigation has come to a close and charges will be brought against a man in the removal of the Christopher Columbus statue at the Minnesota State Capitol.
Related: Protesters tear down Columbus statue at state capitol
Ramsey County Attorney James Choi announced that Michael Forcia will be charged with one count of felony Criminal Damage to Property. The investigation done by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension says that Forcia knew and acknowledged that he would be held accountable for organizing the rally that led to protesters pulling the statue down.
“Given the impact of this action on residents across our state and the divisive reactions it has engendered, we believe administering justice in this case requires an extraordinary step -- the active engagement and participation of our community. We are working on developing a restorative process to give voice to those divergent opinions and bring people who hold them together to determine how best we hold Mr. Forcia accountable while healing our community from the harm that was caused. By employing restorative principles in a way that unites rather than divides us, we have a greater opportunity to achieve true justice for our community, to respond more meaningfully and in due time, rather than waiting more than a year for an adversarial trial that would not provide adequate closure for our community and likely create additional division. The pursuit of justice should always seek to unite a community rather than divide it.”
The Minnesota BCA says that the State Patrol was given information that this was going to happen during the planned rally by Forcia. They said that Forcia's intention to pull the statue down was clear from a social media post they found.
Estimates show that the cost to repair the damage done will be $154,553.
