BOSTON (WHDH) - Boston police say a suspect was taken into custody after an exterior crucifix was vandalized at the historic Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston Tuesday night.
The arms of Jesus on the crucifix were broken and left dangling after police say Michael Patzelt, 37, of Attleboro, allegedly climbed up and attempted to swing and hang from the cross.
“The suspect broke both the statues arms prior to officers responding and placed him under arrest,” the Boston Police Department stated in a news release, noting that Patzelt had also knocked off a female victim’s headwear before approaching the crucifix.
Video shared with 7NEWS showed an individual grabbing onto the feet of Christ and swinging back and forth sometime around 6 p.m.
Following an investigation, Patzelt was charged with assault and malicious destruction of property, and arraigned in Boston Municipal Court.
His arrest came after several bystanders assisted in holding down Patzelt . 7NEWS spoke with one of the witnesses who helped subdue the suspect and described the sequence.
“- then the gentleman darted across the road – we had to sprint down the guy and then myself and another gentleman ran over to kind of help hold the guy until the police came,” said Conor Darby, who said Patzelt spoke gibberish during the incident, and that the 37-year-old claimed to have ‘liked the statue because it looked pretty’ and that he “just wanted to hang out by it.
Patzelt appeared in court later on Wednesday, where he was described as being “recently homeless.”
A BMC judge had strong words for the defendant, setting his bail at $5,000 – significantly more than the $500 the state requested.
“Was this an issue of a depraved heart or a very sick mind?” Judge Paul Treseler asked.
Authorities in court also gave more details on the incident that took place before Patzelt approached the crucifix.
The prosecution said that shortly beforehand, he was across the street at a grocery store where he allegedly assaulted a mother.
“He knocked the hat off of her head in front of her son and kept telling this individual to ‘shoot him,'” prosecutor Samuel Jones told the court.
Crews working most of the day were able to later reattach the arms to the 150-year-old statue, which came to the Cathedral of the Holy Cross two years ago.
The archdiocese said the crucifix arrived at the largest Catholic church in New England after it was originally at a rest home in Somerville operated by the Little Sisters of the Poor.
At one point in the day, Paul Deeley stopped by to see the damage – the son of Michael And Mary Deeley, whose estate helped repair the crucifix two decades ago.
“My parents were residents in their final days at the Little Sisters of the Poor in Somerville,” he told 7NEWS. “They refurbished it and they made it a little plaque and put it on there.”
The plaque itself reads:
“Crucifix Restored In Loving Memory Of Michael And Mary Deeley By Their Family In Year 2002.”
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