A 41-year-old Long Island man has been arrested on a charge of aggravated harassment as a hate crime for allegedly defacing a lawn campaign sign for Republican gubernatorial nominee Lee Zeldin over the weekend, authorities said Wednesday.
Vincent Mckie, 41, was apprehended outside his Huntington home Tuesday afternoon in the Saturday vandalism of the campaign sign on the corner of West Pulaski Road and Oakwood Road, where McKie lives, officials said. Cops say he drew a swastika on it.
The word "Gambino" and "187," a possible reference to the California penal code for murder, were also found painted on the sign, police said.
Mckie also was charged with criminal mischief. He is expected to be arraigned later Wednesday. Attorney details for him were not immediately available.
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Zeldin, the congressional representative who won his party's nomination in Tuesday's gubernatorial primary and will challenge Democrat Kathy Hochul for the job in November, condemned the vandalism in a tweet prior to his electoral victory.
"In the US, we settle our scores at the ballot box, & this type of raw hate must never have any home in NY or the US," Zeldin wrote.
