ORLANDO, Fla. – Charges won’t be filed against people who used chalk on Pulse memorial rainbow crosswalk
ORLANDO, Fla. – Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell announced that her office will not file charges against six people arrested for using chalk on the rainbow crosswalk outside the Pulse nightclub memorial.
In a news conference held on Friday, Worrell said prosecutors could not meet the legal burden required to move forward.
Worrell said the investigation took two senior attorneys and more than 100 hours to complete, adding that the complexity of the cases – and a lack of cooperation from arresting agencies – drove the lengthy timeline.
“This is a very novel issue,” she said. “No one has ever been prosecuted for anything like this before, and our job is to get it right.”
The rainbow crosswalk at South Orange Avenue and West Esther Street was installed by the state of Florida in 2017 as part of a $9 million Florida Department of Transportation-funded improvement project.
Worrell said FDOT’s own documents described the project as built in conjunction with the Pulse Memorial, and that city officials confirmed the crosswalk met national safety standards.
On Aug. 21, FDOT painted over the crosswalk overnight without advance notice, a public process, or safety data to justify its removal. Worrell said the timing was notable.
On June 30 – weeks before the removal – FDOT issued an internal memo banning pavement markings associated with social, political or ideological messages. That same day, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy issued a parallel federal directive.
Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.
