Florida man Alexander Jerich has been ordered by a judge to write a 25 page essay on the victims of the Pulse nightclub terrorist attack, after pleading guilty to performing a burnout on an LGBT crosswalk last year.
Jerich, 20, was arrested and charged with criminal mischief of over $1,000, reckless driving, with a felony enhancement of “evidence of prejudice,” after a video of him performing a burnout on an LGBT crosswalk in Delary Beach went viral.
Jerich was taking part in a truck rally to celebrate President Trump’s birthday when the incident occurred.
The LGBT crosswalk had only been unveiled the previous Saturday after being “years in the making,” and was dedicated to the victims of the Islamist terrorist attack at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando that occurred in 2016.
WATCH: A man was arrested after he was caught on camera doing what appeared to be an intentional “burnout” with his vehicle over the LGBTQ pride crosswalk in Delray Beach, causing significant damage to the streetscape painting. Read more: https://t.co/yuBY86LOXR pic.twitter.com/PrmKmOJjKS
— WPEC CBS12 News (@CBS12) June 18, 2021
BREAKING: Delray Beach PD confirms one person has been arrested for defacing the LGBTQ Pride Intersection. Working on more details. @WPTV pic.twitter.com/fzsnRfkRn1
— JOSH NAVARRO (@JoshNavarroTV) June 17, 2021
Jerich this week pleaded guilty to the criminal mischief and reckless driving charges, and agreed to pay $2,000 in order to repair the crosswalk, which had initially cost $16,720 from the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
Circuit Judge Scott Suskauer declared that he was surprised at the man who appeared in his courtroom and apologised. “I was expecting someone who displays complete disrespect for their fellow citizens,” Suskauer said, “a person some might call a thug or a redneck. This is not the person I was expecting.”
While Suskauer has not yet sentenced Jerich, he instead ordered him to write a 25-page-essay on the Pulse victims who the LGBT crosswalk was dedicated to.
Along with researching the victims and their families, Suskauer also told Jerich to write a “brief summary of why people are so hateful and why people lash out against the gay community.”
Ran Hoch, the President of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, had previously slammed Jerich as a “hateful criminal” who should have been charged with defacing a memorial. Hoch has been pushing for Jerich to receive at least a year in jail, telling the judge that the LGBT “community has been demeaned and intimidated by the defendant’s actions.”
However, a sentence that harsh seems unlikely.
“I don’t want to do that to a young man who has his whole life ahead of him,” Suskauer said, instead saying he would consider a 30-day sentence, suggested by Assistant State Attorney Richard Clausi.
