Firefighters have found the burned remains of a bronze statue of Jackie Robinson stolen last week from a Kansas park.
The Wichita Department of Fire Protection received a call around 8:40 a.m. Tuesday about a trash container on fire in a park on the city’s south side. On site, sappers discovered parts of the statue.
At a press conference, the authorities indicated that these parts of the statue could not be saved.
PHOTO TRAVIS HEYING, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bob Lutz, executive director of League 42, walks past the charred remains of a dumpster where pieces of a stolen Jackie Robinson statue were found by Wichita police, Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024.
The criminals had cut off the statue of the former Montreal Royals and Los Angeles Dodgers star, the first African-American to play in the major leagues in 1947, at the ankles.
The statue was commissioned by a charity, League 42, named in honor of Robinson, which bore the numbero 442 with the Dodgers. It was paid around US$50,000 and installed in a park used by around 600 young baseball players.
Police are searching for two suspects seen taking the statue away on surveillance video.