COMMERCE, Okla. – A trade man told authorities he set fire to a statue of Mickey Mantle to “liberate” the Hall of Fame baseball legend.
Garrette Lee Brown, 33, is charged in Ottawa County District Court with fourth-degree arson. He is scheduled to appear in court on Monday, according to online court records.
Brown is accused of setting fire to the statue on Nov. 27, which sits behind the fence in the middle of the Commerce High School baseball field.
A Hall of Fame baseball player for the New York Yankees, Mantle was known as “The Commerce Comet” and played for the Commerce High School baseball team.
Brown told authorities he “doesn’t like statues” and “felt he had to ‘free’ Mickey Mantle from the statue,” according to court records. When Brown was taken into custody, he said “he should not be arrested because he did not harm the statue by starting the fire.”
Brown reportedly exclaimed several times that he started the fire because he doesn’t like images that “worship” anyone other than God. Brown also explained that he was cold, so he lit the fire to keep his hands warm, according to authorities.
Earlier in the evening, a witness reported to authorities that he had seen a man wearing a black jacket and blue shorts, along with a black dog and a wheelbarrow, stacking items next to and on the base of the statue, according to a statement regarding probable cause. The witness reported that the man “set fire to a large construction barrier” and ran from the area, court records show.
Authorities later identified Brown as the unknown man.
Brown remains in the Ottawa County Jail and is being held on $10,000 bail.
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