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A memorial honoring the late George Floyd in New York City was defaced by a vandal on a skateboard who threw paint all over the statue, surveillance video shows.

The unidentified man can be seen skating up the south plaza of Union Square in Manhattan around 10.15am on Sunday before tossing gray paint all over the statue in broad daylight.

Paint landed on the statue of Floyd’s face as well as the base of the monument, the video from the New York Police Department (NYPD) shows.

Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died on May 25, 2020, after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nearly 10 minutes.

The clip of the incident showed Floyd, laying face-down, crying out, ‘I can’t breathe’. The footage played a crucial role in Chauvin being convicted of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

Chauvin was sentenced to 22-and-a-half years in prison, with the possibility of supervised relief, contingent on good behavior after serving two-thirds of his sentence or 15 years for second-degree murder.

The statue is one of three monuments by Chris Carnabuci that were unveiled in Union Square on Thursday.

The ‘SeeInJustice’ art installation includes similar statues of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year old black medical worker who was shot and killed by Louisville police in March 2020, and black civil rights leader John Lewis, who died last year.

According to police, the statues of Taylor and Lewis were left untouched.

The statue of Floyd was also vandalized just days after it was first unveiled on Juneteenth in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. It was eventually moved to Union Square.

The NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force is investigating the latest incident.

The suspect is described as a male with a light complexion and medium build. In the video, he can be seen wearing a black hat, a dark green jacket, a neon green T-shirt, black shorts, black and white sneakers and a green backpack.

Authorities described the suspect as a man with a medium build, last seen wearing a black hat, dark green jacket, a neon green T-shirt, black shorts, black and white sneakers, and a green backpack.

Anyone with information is asked to contact NYPD Crime Stoppers.

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