- A woman was accused of writing anti-SpaceX graffiti on a Brownsville mural, per The Texas Observer.
- The mural, revealed in September, was paid for by Elon Musk's charitable foundation.
- Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez said on Facebook she was arrested and charged with a Class B misdemeanor.
Police in Texas arrested a woman accused of spray-painting anti-SpaceX graffiti on a mural paid for by Elon Musk's foundation, The Texas Observer reported.
Bekah Hinojosa, a resident of Brownsville and member of environmental group Another Gulf Is Possible, told The Observer that four police officers knocked on her door, handcuffed her in her house, and drove her to the local police station.
The arrest was over Hinojosa allegedly spray-painting the words "gentrified" and "stop SpaceX" beneath a new mural in downtown Brownsville, South Texas, The Observer reported.
Brownsville is located 20 miles west of SpaceX's launch facilities on the Gulf Coast and is known for being one of the poorest areas in the US. Some residents, including Hinojosa, told Insider last year that they were concerned about SpaceX displacing locals, raising prices, and ruining nature reserves in the area.
Hinojosa didn't answer The Observer's questions about whether she graffitied the mural, under the advice of her attorney, per the report.
The mural was paid for by the Musk Foundation and painted by Los Angeles-based artist Teddy Kelly, who was given $20,000 to paint the wall, ValleyCentral reported when it was revealed in September.
The officers told Hinojosa that she couldn't change out of her pajamas before she was taken to the police station, and was threatened with a charge of resisting arrest, she told The Observer.
Hinojosa was kept in a jail cell for 24 hours and interviewed by a detective, she told The Observer.
"I'm out of jail & back at home!!" Hinojosa tweeted on Thursday. She told The Observer she was released on a personal recognizance bond.
Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez posted a mugshot of Hinojosa on Facebook, saying she was "arrested and charged with a Class B misdemeanor stemming from the graffiti at the BTX mural in our historic downtown." Mendez said in the post that the incident was caught on CCTV cameras.
Texas law states that some Class B misdemeanors, such as graffiti, require a citation and not an arrest, The Observer reported.
Hinojosa's attorney, Mike Siegel, told The Observer that the police response was an "extreme, targeted attack" towards her and described it as "out of the ordinary" to arrest someone for a graffiti charge without eyewitness reports.
"The mayor admits that he's retaliating against Bekah based on her advocacy against SpaceX," Siegel told The Observer, adding that Mendez should apologize.
Insider has reached out to Hinojosa, Brownsville Police Department, and Mendez for comment.
In an interview with Insider last year, Hinojosa said SpaceX was "littering" the ecosystems which were " the community's lifeblood."
The Brownsville Police Department declined to comment to The Observer and Mendez didn't respond to its request for comment before publication.
Are you a resident of Brownsville? What do you think of SpaceX being in the area? How has it impacted you? Get in touch with this reporter via email ([email protected]) or Twitter DM (kate__duffy).