A street artist in San Antonio, Texas, was drawing on the sidewalk. With chalk in hand, he then saw a man driving his truck toward him, which he interpreted as a sign of intimidation. The driver called the police on him, and, shockingly, they arrived at the scene particularly quickly.
The artist in question, LAKEY360 (Lakey), shared the interaction online. He describes himself as a street artist and activist, and often posts his art to his followers. The clip attached above quickly went viral, garnering 415,800 views, 28,300 likes, and close to 1,300 comments.
The Texas artist was drawing on a sidewalk using chalk. The clip showed a pickup truck traveling directly at Lakey. At the very last second, the man behind the wheel pulled to the right, rolled down his window, and started berating the artist.
“Stay where you are,” the man said. “[…] I asked you to stop. This isn’t your property.”
Police Response
Lakey, meanwhile, mocked the man for his attempt at intimidation, as he portrayed it. He then told the driver that the sidewalk was private property. The driver screamed, “You don’t know the property. I do.” He then told Lakey to stay where he was and drove away.
Lakey continued to draw with chalk. About 11 minutes later, according to him, two police cruisers could be seen parking close to him in the parking lot right next to the sidewalk he was using as his canvas.
“Quite the response time for sidewalk chalk, though,” the Texas artist said.
Minutes later, a third police cruiser arrived at the scene. Lakey and another woman continued to work on their art. Without approaching Lakey, the cruisers left the parking lot.
Reactions
The video sparked multiple responses, mostly from viewers who were left aghast by how the driver handled himself in the clip. One said, “It’s SO weird this upsets people.” Another one asked, “Why are people so angry all the time?“
Other viewers were critical of the police response. One commented, “The fact that they drove up and didn’t say anything makes me think he didn’t call about chalk.” Another one wrote, “What a waste of time and resources! Can’t believe police responded that quickly!“
Sadly, this is not the first time that Lakey has faced similar interactions with unrelated individuals. By the looks of it, he has grown accustomed to it.
