Casino owner Derek Stevens is trying to find out who knocked over the Manneken Pis statue outside the D Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. Stevens estimated the damage at about $200,000.
On Thursday, Stevens tweeted a grainy surveillance video showing about a dozen revelers dancing around the statute. As this occurs, some in the group are shooting cellphone video.
At one point in the surveillance video, a person is seen climbing up to the statue. The person dances behind the object and grabs it. Within seconds, the statue falls over backwards. When it topples, the group scatters.
The damage occurred about 2:30 am on Tuesday after the Life is Beautiful Music and Art Festival downtown.
Stevens owns the D Las Vegas and two other hotel-casinos on Fremont Street, the Golden Gate and Circa Resort.
“Tried keeping this on the down low, as it’s an active investigation,” Stevens tweeted. “Why/Who would do this to my little man @MannekenPisLV. He never did anything to anybody! He just smiled & aimed to please day and night.”
The last reference apparently is a nod to the replica bronze statue’s depiction of a boy urinating into a fountain.
The statute at the Las Vegas property resembles the famous one in Brussels, dating to the 15th century. The statue in Belgium was used as a method of delivering drinking water to the capital city, according to the Brussels Times. Popular lore has it that the boy was memorialized for saving Brussels from a fire by urinating on a fuse connected to an explosive device. Others say a witch froze the boy permanently for urinating on her door.
‘Deeply Involved’
Stevens told the Las Vegas Review-Journal the statue is at a hotel workshop undergoing repairs.
The cost to restore the statue will be “a couple hundred thousand dollars, at least,” he told reporter John Katsilometes.
Stevens said it doesn’t look like the revelers were “maliciously” trying to damage the statue. “But son of a gun, they hurt him.”
The statute has been downtown since 2015.
I love that little guy,” Stevens said.
Among other damage, the statute’s stone stand was destroyed, Stevens said. He told the newspaper he is “deeply involved” with police in the investigation.
“The police will report back to me on what they find,” Stevens said.
Stolen Bust Recovered
Earlier this year, Stevens was involved in another investigation into a theft at one of his properties.
In February, Sevens tweeted a video of himself explaining that a bust of casino pioneer Kirk Kerkorian was missing from a display area at Circa Resort.
The bust is one of several honoring Las Vegas casino owners and developers at the resort’s Legacy Club.
Stevens said his security staff, working with security from the Four Queens and Fremont hotel-casinos in downtown Las Vegas, found the bust in a guest room at the Four Queens.
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