Black Lives Matter Sign Vandal Caught On Tape In Evanston, Residents Say

EVANSTON, IL — The vice president of the Evanston/Skokie District 65 school board says she witnessed a woman walk onto her property, knock over a Black Lives Matter sign in her lawn and stomp on it around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday evening. Along with two of her neighbors, Anya Tanyavutti caught up with the woman after she left the scene on foot and one of her neighbors managed to snap a photo of the woman (above) in the 2700 block of Central Park Avenue and the 100 block of Central Park Avenue in Wilmette.

"We did see her and attempt to ask her why she felt comfortable going on other peoples property to vandalize their signs. She, however, ran away," Tanyavutti said, posting a video to social media in order to document the incident. "This is my property. This is where my children play. I feel violated, and this is unacceptable. It's unacceptable for anybody and it's unacceptable in our community."

Tanyavutti, who was appointed to the District 65 school board last year and reelected in April, said she is not the only one to have had their Black Lives Matter sign stolen or vandalized. She noted a church has had at least 15 signs taken, some Evanston residents have had to move their signs indoors or install security cameras because of repeated thefts and damage to their signs. (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news for Evanston — or your community. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)

"These are physical and emotional violations that have happened repeatedly across our city," Tanyavutti wrote on a social media post. She said more signs have been stolen recently from some of other families in her neighborhood and encouraged anyone who has had a sign vandalized to contact police and file a report to document the extent of the issues.

Depending on whether a sign is damaged, stolen or moved, police will classify the incident differently, making it difficult to ascertain precisely how many such sign-related offenses have occurred in Evanston, according to Police Cmdr. Joseph Dugan. A stolen sign would be a theft, a damaged sign would fall under the offense of criminal damage to property, while a sign taken out of the ground and moved or stomped could be an incident of disorderly conduct or another offense.

Dugan said last week's incident is being investigated as a case of disorderly conduct. He said police were told one of Tanyavutti's neighbors confronted the woman, described as between 18 and 25-years-old and 5-foot, 5-inches, with a slender build, short brown hair, a denim shirt and denim pants carrying two brown bags.

Have you experienced a stolen or vandalized political sign? If so, contact Evanston@Patch.com and share your story.

Top photo: Alleged vandal of Black Lives Matter sign in Evanston | Photo courtesy Anya Tanyavutti