{"id":238702,"date":"2021-07-15T05:56:37","date_gmt":"2021-07-15T05:56:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=238702"},"modified":"2021-07-16T06:24:13","modified_gmt":"2021-07-16T06:24:13","slug":"witnesses-claim-lightning-destroyed-george-floyd-mural-in-ohio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=238702","title":{"rendered":"Witnesses claim lightning destroyed George Floyd mural in Ohio"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Joshua Rhett Butler \u2013 New York Post July 14, 2021<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>A mural of George Floyd collapsed in Ohio, but there were conflicting accounts about whether the cause was a lightning strike or structural issues.<\/p>\n<p>Police in Toledo said the large mural honoring Floyd \u2014 who was killed by Minneapolis <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/04\/20\/derek-chauvin-jury-reaches-verdict-in-george-floyd-case\/\">police officer Derek Chauvin<\/a> last May, setting off worldwide protests \u2014 was reduced to rubble around 5 p.m. Tuesday outside a building that previously housed a bar at Summit and Lagrange streets, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.toledoblade.com\/local\/city\/2021\/07\/13\/george-foyd-mural-in-toledo-crumbles\/stories\/20210713122\">the Toledo Blade reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A weather radar <a href=\"https:\/\/www.13abc.com\/2021\/07\/13\/george-floyd-mural-summit-lagrange-collapses\/\">operated by WTVG<\/a> detected a lightning strike in the block at about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, the station reported.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRight before that storm hit, I just pulled in my driveway and it wasn\u2019t down,\u201d Susan Keller, who lives nearby, told WTVG. \u201cI would\u2019ve noticed it right away. I noticed it when they put it up, I would\u2019ve noticed it when it came down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Police were later seen outside the building setting up a barrier around a fallen pile of bricks, WTVG reported. Keller said she hopes the \u201cbeautiful\u201d piece gets restored as city officials differ on what exactly caused it to come down.<\/p>\n<p>City building inspector Hugh Koogan told the Blade the collapse appeared to be from natural deterioration, adding that the middle of the painted brick wall had bowed recently.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was just age,\u201d Koogan said. \u201cIt just came away. It happens to the older buildings.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A mural honoring the life and legacy of George Floyd in Toledo, OH was destroyed by a lightning strike Tuesday, according to local officials. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/hKqf0J4DQL\">pic.twitter.com\/hKqf0J4DQL<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Guy Still (@mplstvguy) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mplstvguy\/status\/1415311993427398658?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 14, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>But the Toledo Fire and Rescue Department lists the cause of the collapse as a lightning strike based on witness reports and the scene, spokeswoman Sterling Rahe told the Blade.<\/p>\n<p>The witness reported seeing lightning hit the building prior to the collapse, but Koogan said he spoke to the person and found no evidence to support the theory. The inspector also shot down assertions that rain factored into the fall.<\/p>\n<p>The artist who created the mural, David Ross, said he\u2019s unsure what to believe, noting that he received threats when the \u201cTake a Breath\u201d piece was unveiled last summer amid protests following Floyd\u2019s in-custody death. Chauvin, 45, was later convicted of murder and <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/06\/25\/derek-chauvin-sentenced-to-prison-in-murder-of-george-floyd\/\">received 22\u00bd years in prison<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I did the mural, there was stuff on the wall that I couldn\u2019t remove and that let me know how strong the structure was,\u201d Ross told the Blade. \u201cThe lightning thing, that\u2019s possible, but I know it didn\u2019t just fall.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ross said he plans to rebuild the mural at a new location. The property owner, meanwhile, declined to comment but was working with a contractor to secure the site, according to the newspaper.<\/p>\n<p>The building\u2019s owner is now working to tear down the rest of the wall. City officials also released a statement saying they\u2019ll plan a new mural or help Ross find a new location for his Floyd memorial, WTVG reported.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/07\/14\/george-floyd-mural-collapses-witnesses-blame-lightning\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Make of it what you will but there are reports that a mural of George Floyd in Ohio has collapsed, after being struck by lightening<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":238703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[58,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-238702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-Current_Affairs","category-Race"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=238702"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":238704,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238702\/revisions\/238704"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/238703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=238702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=238702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=238702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}