This morning, Chief Mishanda Franklin issued the following press release:
On Tuesday, October 17, 2023, the Hudson Police Department arrested 70-year-old Bernardo E. Centeno of Hudson, NY, on an active Felony Arrest Warrant out of the City of Hudson Court. Centeno was arrested on two counts of criminal possession of a weapon 3rd degree, previously convicted / a class D felony and menacing 2nd Degree with a weapon, a class A misdemeanor.
On Tuesday, October 10, 2023, the Hudson Police Department detective’s division received information from a social media post that Centeno deliberately destroyed the artwork of a local female artist, an act that was witnessed and recorded by another community member. Centeno’s response to the confrontation was one of violence, threatening a man with a bat and knife while using racist language. HPD spoke with the victim who stated that on October 8, 2023, he observed Centeno peeling paint off of an artist’s murals located on the 400 block of Prison Alley. When the victim questioned Centeno, Centeno grabbed a bat and swung it at the victim and then grabbed a knife and threatened the victim. The victim was not injured during the incident. Charges relating to the destroyed artwork are pending.
Centeno was arraigned in the City of Hudson Court in front of Judge Roberts. Centeno was released on his own recognizance (ROR’d). Centeno returned to Hudson City Court on October 19, 2023, at 9 a.m. and is to return again at a later date.
The artwork that was damaged is a mural by Ife Tayo Cobbins, created in memory of her late mother. In a statement published on Facebook, Cobbins said of the incident: "Mother Nature did not interfere with the work. Rain and hail, the work stayed strong. So it makes me sad that the undoing of my art was the result of a brutal side of humanity."
The mural, which is made up of 300 six-inch square canvases, took many months to complete and cost an estimated $5,000 in supplies. Cobbins is hoping to finance the re-creation and repair of the mural by selling other examples of her work on her website.
Ntchota Badila, who confronted Centeno after witnessing him vandalizing the mural, recorded the incident and posted photos and a video on his Facebook page.
Nice effort by Ife Tayo, but it's actually not a mural, but an assemblage made up of small canvas panels, not canvases, that cost about .80 each, so $5000 in material is a bit of an exaggeration. I also noticed walking by that the panels are glued to a glass brick wall in the alley. It is unattended, looks abandoned and it also seems that over time people have been walking by and helping themselves to the little paintings as there were numerous squares that were empty and missing the panels. So to suggest that a strange loner like Bernardo (who is known to live in Bliss Towers and walk the alleys collecting bottles from the trash to supplement his social security income) committed a brutal act of inhumanity, or destroyed a $5000 mural, because he appeared to peel something off the wall, seems a bit of an exaggeration.
ReplyDeleteThere is no excuse for threatening someone with a bat, or a knife, but from the video it appears he was walking away from the artwork not bothering anyone, when he was confronted in the alley by a man with a camera and obviously felt threatened. The correct procedure would have been to report any vandalism (if it occurred) to the police, not initiate a confrontation. The result is somewhat disheartening-- a low income resident arrested and charged with a felony with photographic evidence, from an avoidable confrontation he didn't initiate.
All the signs and art that suddenly popped up over there, including the mural (or whatever it is), never should have been allowed by the city in the first place. City Hall is mostly to blame for all this nonsense, though I do not condone how Bernardo reacted. Since when can anyone open their own art gallery and work space outside on property they don't own? This is what happens when there is no proper code enforcement: regrettable confrontations. I could give at least two other examples of how City Hall has failed us in this regard. It's just a matter of time before someone gets killed or seriously hurt because the city chooses not to pay attention.
ReplyDeleteLanguage and distinctions are important, especially when dealing with the court. The fact is a mural is a painting that is made directly on and becomes a part of a wall, like a painting on a plaster or brick wall. This is not a mural, it could be called an assemblage, or an installation. The distinction is important, because any one of these small abstract paintings are not very sophisticated technically and could easily be replaced by the artist. The value of any one panel sold individually by a street artist like Ife is probably around $30- $50. The claim made is the artwork was destroyed and it has a value in materials alone of $5000. There is a big difference between $30 and over $5000 if a claim of vandalism is being made in court. There was reference to another video, but on the one posted there was also no evidence at all of any vandalism.
DeleteThe other problem I have with this post, is that as far as I know there is no law against having a baseball bat or even a knife on your person for self defense, and there is also no law against using it for that purpose if threatened, which obviously this man felt. You could say it's unlawful if his perception of the threat was inaccurate and his reaction was inappropriate or excessive, that's for the court or a mental health professional to decide, but to say that a person confronting someone in a Hudson alley and initiating a confrontation with a device is "the victim" doesn't seem impartial, particularly when you consider the alleys of Hudson are know to be a location where shootings, muggings and stabbings have occurred.
yes, words matter, and your comment reads – clown horn blows honk honk.
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