FORT PIERCE, Fla. – Jeff Redding has been grieving the death of his 18-year-old-son Austin for nearly two years.
Austin loved Fort Pierce and the water, so Redding placed a plaque in his honor at a public pier.
“This has always been a place where we can just go and reconnect,” Redding told an ABC News affiliate on Monday after he removed it.
Fort Pierce officials announced on Monday that tributes such as plaques and flowers at the Jetty Linear Park and the Jetty Fishing Pier violated the city’s lease with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The city’s public works employees faced the difficult task and warned that “some plaques may experience unintentional damage during removal,” so Redding did not want to take that risk.
Redding and others removed the tributes even though city officials asked the public “not to attempt to remove any plaques or flowers themselves” because of safety risks.
City officials were committed to storing the plaques that were not damaged in the process at the Public Works Facility at 52 Savannah Road.
For information about retrieving a plaque, call 772-467-3794 or visit this page.