Brutus statue vandalism caught on camera
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) - Surveillance footage from Ohio State University shows exactly how a statue of Brutus was vandalized in late November. Several angles of surveillance footage received through a public information request show a man walking in the middle of Lane Avenue around 3:20 AM on Nov. 24, 2024.
The Ohio State Buckeyes beat the Indiana Hoosiers earlier that day in a matchup of top 5 teams.
The man in the surveillance footage is seen banging on windows at The Varsity Club on the corner of Lane Avenue and Tuttle Park Place. From there, he walks next door to College Traditions, a popular Ohio State-themed merchandise store. He pushes over the fiberglass statue of Brutus, breaking it at the shins and leaving behind the boots fastened to the ground.
The vandal then goes on a four-minute rampage kicking the statue up and down Lane Avenue in the middle of the road while seemingly recording on his phone. The footage then shows him pick up the statue and throw it against another statue of Woody Hayes. Brutus bounces back off the metal Hayes statue and hits the man. The suspect then throws the statue twice more before dumping it down a stairwell situated between The Varsity Club and College Traditions.
The surveillance footage then shows the man walking west on Lane Avenue in the middle of the four-lane road. Vehicles swerve to pass around him, and at one point, he runs directly at a car. Police catch up to the man near the Lane Avenue Bridge over the Olentangy River after two students walking home witnessed his attack on the statue and called police.
Ohio State University Police body camera footage shows the officers engage the man, who was wearing sweatpants and a blue Notre Dame sweatshirt.
"Why are you walking in the middle of the road?" one officer can be heard asking. The man responds, "I don't know."
The officer responds, "Okay. Why would that mean that you need to walk in the middle of the road?"
The man in the Notre Dame sweatshirt replies, "It's obvious."
The officer, questioning the man, said, "What's obvious?"
"Like the direction of the road is obvious," the man replied.
The conversation then turns to why the man isn't using the sidewalk instead of walking in the middle of the road.
"I'm looking at the road. I'm looking at the sidewalk. They're going the same exact way," said the officer. "They're not. Because they turn up there," said the man.
At this point in the encounter, multiple officers are on scene as well as the two students who witnessed the attack.
One witness said to an officer, "I was more concerned than anything. He was like, next to Varsity Club, like throwing the Brutus statue around."
"Did you see him break it?" asked the officer. Both witnesses said, "Yes."
One of the witnesses said the man kept talking to himself, and thought maybe he was talking to the two students.
"I did the O-H thing. He just kept talking to himself, and he didn't say I-O back, so I kind of knew something was up," said one witness before adding, "He was right in the middle of the street. He's doing this right in the street."
The two students then point the officers to where they can find the statue of Brutus.
"At the bottom of the staircase, to the left of the Varsity Club you'll see it," one of them said.
Officers are then approached by a man who claims to be the father of the alleged vandal. The officers take down information for both of the men, then allow them to leave.
NBC4 reached out to Ohio State Police for an update on potential charges but has not received confirmation. Franklin County court records do not show any current charges for destruction of the statue.