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Arkansas’ Ten Commandments monument destroyed live on Facebook

Posted at 5:19 AM, Jun 29, 2017
and last updated 2017-06-29 05:19:40-04

(CNN)The man accused of ramming a car into the newly erected Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the Arkansas state Capitol Wednesday posted a video to Facebook shortly before the incident, saying he was doing it because it was a violation of the separation of church and state.

Michael Tate Reed, 32, then streamed to Facebook Live the moment he drove his 2016 Dodge Dart over the statehouse lawn and crashed into the monument. The Arkansas secretary of state’s office confirmed to CNN the video shows Reed driving into the monument.

As music plays inside the car, the headlights illuminate the grass and then the large stone slab — which was put in place Tuesday afternoon — with the statehouse lit in the background. The vehicle speeds toward the monument and crashes into it, and the video stops.

The 6-foot tall stone monument was knocked off of its base and broke into at least three sections, with some of the pieces crumbling.

Reed, 32, was immediately arrested by Capitol police, according to Chris Powell, a spokesman for the Arkansas secretary of state.

He faces charges of defacing an object of public interest, criminal mischief in the first degree and criminal trespass, the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office said.

Reed was arrested after a similar event in 2014. Oklahoma County Sheriff spokesman Mark Opgrande said. Oklahoma Highway Patrol officers assigned to the state capitol on October 24, 2014, arrested him in connection with an incident where he allegedly ran over a Ten Commandments statue on capitol grounds.