Dallas police arrested a 25-year-old man early Tuesday morning after he was caught attempting to repaint a rainbow crosswalk in the Oak Lawn neighborhood. The incident occurred less than 24 hours after city crews began removing the decorative pavement markings to comply with a state-issued mandate.
Officers observed Joseph Whiteside at the intersection of Cedar Springs Road and Knight Street around 3:30 a.m. According to authorities, Whiteside had outlined a rainbow design and intended to fill it in using colored chalk and paint.
Police reportedly discovered a bag containing the materials at the scene. Whiteside was charged with misdemeanor graffiti and taken into custody on two outstanding felony warrants from Farmers Branch, as reported by the Dallas Voice.
The arrest follows the city’s decision to begin removing 30 decorative crosswalks throughout Dallas. These include markings in the historically LGBTQ+ district of Oak Lawn and a Black Lives Matter design in Fair Park.
This action adheres to a directive from the Texas Department of Transportation, which classified the designs as political messaging and potential distractions to motorists. Last year, Governor Greg Abbott ordered cities to eliminate non-standard markings or face a loss of state funding.
TxDOT initially notified Dallas officials in October 2025 that the crosswalks failed to meet standards set by the Texas Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. A formal request from the city to maintain the markings was denied by the state on January 15.
City officials stated they expect all 30 markings to be replaced with standard traffic designs by April 28. The city aims to complete the removal process within three weeks to ensure compliance with state regulations and secure infrastructure funding.
Constitutional lawyer David Coale noted that the state’s action appears legal if applied without exceptions to all non-standard markings. Coale told Fox that when the state provides funding, it generally retains the right to regulate the conditions of that spending.