Recent South Burlington High School Grad Arrested For Spraypainting Racial Slur A recent South Burlington HS graduate is facing felony unlawful mischief charges for spray-painting a racial slur on the school’s AstroTurf field. 18-year-old Tyler Austin was identified as the suspect during a news conference Friday, according to the Burlington Free Press : “I hope that this will send a message, as have other actions we’ve taken in this community, that we take these things really seriously. Our entire community is offended by this type of behavior. It’s not acceptable,” Chief Trevor Whipple said at a news conference. Whipple chose not to speak on the exact slur that was painted and who it may have been directed at, saying, “”It’s my feeling that to repeat them, re-inflicts harm on someone and I choose not to do that.” Whipple also explained why the incident was not considered a hate crime. “Clearly the law was written to apply to an individual, a crime against a person, and in this case we have a crime against an object, that being the field, and the victim being the school district,” Whipple said. Racist graffiti found on South Burlington sports field https://t.co/BVBaYypINM pic.twitter.com/WhGoJYwIMh — MyNBC5 (WPTZ) (@MyNBC5) June 7, 2017 News of the incident broke last month on June 6, when the South Burlington Police Department received a complaint of vandalism regarding the graffiti in a field behind the high school and middle school during a school budget revote. While Whipple wouldn’t speculate about the motive for the slur, Seven Days VT reported that another 2017 graduate, Isaiah Hines was the target of the graffiti because he successfully led the push to change the school’s “Rebels” nickname. Seven Days profiled Isaiah Hines last month, highlighting his campaign to drop the “Rebels” team name from South Burlington High School. “I was horrified. Horrified,” his mother, Krishna Hines, said after hearing about the graffiti. “When the school called me to tell me what was written, I was in tears.” Hines says that despite graduating with Austin, he wasn’t familiar with the suspect at all. “I don’ t know him at all,” Hines said. “I never really had any sort of interaction with him.” Whipple also told the media that the investigation is still open and the prosecution has the option to add more charges after reviewing the findings. Austin has been issued a citation to appear in Vermont Superior Court Criminal Division on Thursday, Aug. 24.
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Vermont Teen Charged With Spray-Painting “Dumb Ni**er” On High School Football Field
