Update: 'Unconditional Surrender' statue taken down

UPDATE: The statue has been lowered after enough structural damage was done to force it to come down. It will be removed tonight from the bayfront tonight.

EARLIER: A woman driving a four-door white Mercedes Benz that smashed into the base of the ‘Unconditional Surrender’ statue around noon today has caused enough damage to the structure to force it to come down tonight.

Public Information Officer Jan Thornburg released a press release tonight explaining that the 26-foot tall statue will be removed sometime this evening because the city’s public art liaison “has determined the statue sustained significant fractures jeopardizing its structural integrity.”

A crane is expected to lower the statue sometime this evening and the car that hit the structure will be removed once the statue is lowered.

The press release states the Sarasota Arts Foundation, insurance company and the owner will determine the process to follow to repair the statue and have it erected again near the bayfront once it’s repaired.
The 62-year-old woman veered through bushes and the median before driving northbound in southbound traffic for a little ways. She then crashed into the Unconditional Surrender statue around 12:15 p.m. and damaged the back of the sailor’s leg and feet near the statue’s base.

A witness who talked to the Sarasota Observer said the woman was visibly shaking after the accident and appeared to be suffering from a medical condition and police confirmed that observation. She had no life-threatening injuries and was taken to Sarasota Memorial Hospital as a precaution.

The car, one witness said, was traveling about 30 mph when it came over the bushes and somehow avoided southbound traffic before taking aim at the statue. Bushes and leaves were strewn about where the car hopped the curb.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].