Orlando State Attorney Monique Worrell said she will evaluate whether individuals arrested for redrawing the Pulse rainbow crosswalk with chalk were wrongfully charged, taking community sensitivities into account. The Florida Department of Transportation painted over the crosswalk that paid tribute to victims of the 2016 Pulse shooting. Governor Ron DeSantis defended continued arrests, calling the crosswalk political messaging and characterizing chalking on state roads as vandalism. A judge released Sebastian Suarez after finding no probable cause for his arrest for chalking the crosswalk; Suarez said he did not see a sign prohibiting defacement. A separate judge reached a different probable-cause determination in another case.
Orlando State Attorney Monique Worrell said she will consider community sensitivities when deciding whether to pursue charges after arrests. She made that clear the same day Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis vowed to continue arrests of individuals drawing in the road after the Florida Department of Transportation painted over a crosswalk that pays tribute to victims of the 2016 Pulse shooting.
But DeSantis, a Republican, has continued to insist the crosswalk serves as political messaging and that people using chalk to refill in colors on the crosswalk are vandalizing public property. "You don't have a First Amendment right to commandeer someone else's property," DeSantis said during a press conference in Orlando, as reported by Florida Politics. "You have a First Amendment right to paint your own property. Knock yourself out if that's what you want to do."
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