Arrest made in Trump star vandalism
Los Angeles police arrested a man suspected of using a sledgehammer to destroy Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, officials said Thursday.
Jamie Otis was taken into custody early Thursday on suspicion of felony vandalism, Officer Andrew Chambers said.
Otis told Deadline Hollywood after Wednesday’s pre-dawn attack that he originally intended to remove the star. He said he wanted to auction it off to raise funds for the 11 women accusing the presidential candidate of groping them. Trump has denied the groping allegations.
“I just sort of had enough with Mr. Trump’s aggressive language toward women and his behaviour, his sexual violence with women and against women,” Otis said. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which bestows the stars and maintains the popular tourist attraction, said it would take several days to repair Trump’s spot.
Otis was expected to be booked later Thursday. He had planned to make a statement to reporters along Hollywood Boulevard and then turn himself in at a police station but officers picked him up before that could happen.
Otis told the Times he spent weeks planning his “nonviolent action,” even going as far as spending a couple of nights in Hollywood to scope out the area to pick a time when he could do it “safely, carefully and successfully.”
He said he would “gladly” pay for the repairs.
Trump’s star was dedicated in 2007 in recognition of his work on NBC reality show The Apprentice.