A man is accused of torching a statue of a grackle outside Austin City Hall early Monday, burning the art installation to the ground — but not before authorities mistakenly arrested someone else first, according to court documents.
Rodney Lynn Cook, who turns 67 on Wednesday, was arrested and charged with criminal mischief Tuesday, Austin fire officials said. Criminal mischief is a state jail felony that is punishable by up to two years in jail, officials said.
The statue of the grackle wearing a luchador mask, titled “Ganador,” was created by artist Christy Stallop. The statue was 6 feet tall and made out of recycled bicycle tires, according to the city.
“Ganador” was commissioned by the Austin Art in Public Places program as part of its 2019 TEMPO Project. City officials said “RIP Ganador” on Reddit in response to a post about the statue being burned down.
Firefighters initially responded around 5:30 a.m. Monday to reports that a piece of art on display near City Hall was on fire. Crews extinguished the fire but the piece was destroyed, with damage estimated to be worth $5,000.
Witnesses told authorities that the fire had been intentionally set, and fire investigators also learned that Austin police had a suspect in custody, according to an arrest affidavit.
Witnesses described the suspect as a man between 65 and 70 years old with solid white hair and a goatee, wearing a gray or white long-sleeve shirt and blue jeans, the affidavit said.
Fire investigators spoke with a witness who positively identified the suspect in custody as the man who set the fire. The man was booked on a charge of criminal mischief.
But once City Hall opened, fire investigators obtained surveillance video showing a man with a red cap in his left hand walking up to the artwork, standing near the head and chest of the bird, and then walking away as flames grow on the statue. The video images led fire investigators to realize that police had the wrong person in custody.
The charge against the man first arrested was dropped.
Austin fire officials then released the surveillance footage to the public, hoping for new leads. Later Monday, a caller tipped authorities that the man in the video was sitting on a bench at Lavaca and Cesar Chavez streets.
According to the affidavit, fire investigators found Cook at the intersection of Third and Guadalupe streets wearing a red stocking cap and holding a cigarette lighter in his right hand.
Cook denied setting any fires, including the one at City Hall, fire investigators said. The affidavit did not indicate a motive.
When Cook was shown video of the fire, he told investigators that the man setting the fire “was someone who looked a lot like him but they probably had a wig on,” the affidavit said.
Cook added, “he likes fried chicken and pigeons not the art display (which was a large grackle),” according to the document.
Cook was in the Travis County Jail on Tuesday with bail set at $15,000, online jail records show.
“Ganador ,” a six-foot tall luchador grackle by artist @ChristyStallop is in ashes after a fire early Monday on the City Hall plaza. pic.twitter.com/IDpylGY0cB
— Jay Janner (@jayjanner) March 2, 2020
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