Couple that threw paint on Engineer Street Bridge will be cited to appear in court

It took all of five minutes after Corbin Police had asked for the public’s help to identify the individuals that threw paint onto the deck of the historic Engineer Street Bridge early Saturday morning for a call to come in.

Police posted pictures of the damage, estimated at $1,200, along with a still shot from the video surveillance the city has on the bridge on the department’s Facebook page Thursday morning. The tipster identified the suspected as Derrick Taylor, 21, and Payton Saylor, 22, both of Williamsburg.

“They have all the evidence on their Facebook page,” Corbin Police Lt. Coy Wilson, the department’s public affairs officer, said of Taylor and Saylor.

The time stamp on the surveillance indicates the couple was at the bridge at approximately 1 a.m. They were then seen to walk back toward the creek walk and gazebo.

Taylor and Saylor were contacted and agreed to meet with police Thursday afternoon

Wilson said the duo used the paint to reveal the gender of their baby.

“They got it everywhere,” Wilson said. “Most it it is from throwing it at each other.”

Corbin Public Works Director Gary Kelly said the paint mixed with the tinted waterproofing on the wooden deck, turning it a purplish color.

Public works employees used a pressure washer to remove the paint and will be restaining the deck in the near future.

There are now splotches of bare wood mixed in with the darker stain.

Because Saylor is pregnant, Wilson said officers have elected to cite the couple to court on a charge of first-degree criminal mischief, as opposed to arresting them.

Under Kentucky law, the charge is a class D felony carrying a potential prison sentence of one to five years.

Saylor and Taylor are scheduled to appear in Whitley District Court in Corbin on April 23.

“We are going to push for them to have to make restitution to the city and perform community service,” Wilson said of police.