UPDATE: Reagan Statue Removed After Theft Attempt
Police search for culprit. No word on when the bronze likeness will be reinstalled.
Police were searching Monday for the man who tried to kidnap a bronze statue of former President Ronald Reagan from a Newport Beach park.
The attempted theft came less than a month after city officials unveiled the sculpture at Bonita Sports Park. According to a witness, the would-be thief tried to remove the statue using rope and a truck shortly after 5:30 a.m. Sunday.
"A guy walking his dog saw a man tie a rope around the statue, attach it to his truck and back away quickly," Newport Beach police Sgt. Kirk Jacobi said. "The witness followed the truck but lost him soon after."
Jacobi said the statue was damaged in the incident, which initially left the sculpture tilting like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The life-size statue was later removed by a city crew for repairs.
"I don’t have any details yet on the cost of--or a timeline for--repairing the Reagan statue," city spokeswoman Tara Finnigan said Monday. "The artist is out of town and we will need to confer with her once she returns."
The suspect was last seen fleeing the park in a tan pickup truck.
Sally
5:14 pm on Sunday, November 6, 2011
...ah, it looks "cheezy"..really...
Jack Steen
3:11 pm on Monday, November 7, 2011
WHY on earth would anyone want to erect a statue of this liar and thief ?
His voodoo economic example is most of the reason America is RUINED.
KC
5:22 pm on Sunday, November 6, 2011
Wouldn't be the first, or last attempt to steal a statue. There have been some masterpieces that have been stolen for their scrap value.
met00
10:07 am on Monday, November 7, 2011
Somehow it's fitting that a city which has more of the 1% than anywhere else in OC has a statue for the guy that gave it to them with his massive changes in the tax code.
ace
10:21 am on Monday, November 7, 2011
OH RELAX.
go and make sure your public pension check is in the mail
Our government is the ONE % and is Out of CONTROL
met00
1:53 pm on Monday, November 7, 2011
Oh, I'm sorry, are you talking to me? I actually work for a living. Of course I was born too late to enjoy the American Dram my parents had. Seem Ronnie traded it for the crap that keep on trickling down on me.
Brandt Hardin
4:28 pm on Monday, November 7, 2011
Tear down this false idol! Reagan has a legacy so distorted by the Conservative idolization of him that we may never have a clear picture of the real man behind the television set beyond the elaborate myth now concocted around him. Did he really rid the world of commie scum? Did destroy or save our economy? Check out my portrait of The Gipper in commemoration of the Reagan Centennial and help me figure it out on my artist’s blog at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2011/02/happy-100th-gipper.html