The man who allegedly destroyed Donald Trump’s Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame with what appeared to be a sledgehammer early Wednesday morning has been arrested, according to the Los Angeles Police Department’s Hollywood division.
James Otis, 53, was taken into custody Thursday morning, LAPD Commanding Officer Cory Palka confirmed in a statement to Breitbart News.
A man was filmed in the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday morning repeatedly smashing Trump’s Walk of Fame star with what appeared to be either a pick-ax or another hammer-like instrument. The man could be seen wearing a construction worker’s uniform in a video obtained exclusively by entertainment news website Deadline Hollywood.
The LAPD’s Hollywood division was preparing a press release with additional information Thursday morning. Otis said Wednesday that he had spoken with the LAPD and had been preparing to turn himself in.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Daily News published Thursday, Otis, describes himself as a “Bernie Democrat” who plans to vote for Hillary Clinton in the general election in November. The man said he originally planned to remove the star from the Walk intact and auction it off to benefit the women who have accused the Republican presidential candidate of sexual assault.
“I was just so fed up, so saddened and fed up by Mr. Trump and how he continues to denigrate women, and he continues to joke and make fun about sexual violence and his own exploits against women,” Otis told the Daily News. “And personally, I have in my own family, several people who have been sexually assaulted, including my brother and it hurts a lot. It doesn’t go away. It’s an issue that’s very important to me.”
Otis, who says he has a real estate business and also teaches non-violent social theory, said he had planned the attack on Trump’s star for about six weeks.
“It’s just a big joke to him. I have children; I have many women in my life who don’t think it’s a joke. But he does,” Otis told the Daily News when asked what message he would like to tell Trump. “He lies about it, he shuffles and I don’t see, there’s no reason to believe at all that it will ever stop now. He’ll continue to do this, he’ll continue to make women suffer. So that’s what I’d tell him. “You need help. Please understand that.”
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum
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