TROY – A Department of Public Works employee will be apologizing to the Christ Church United Methodist congregation after he ripped down some 2,300 colorful ribbons tied to the iron fence around the church on State Street.

Footage from a church security camera appears to show a man in a city truck vandalizing a display protesting President Trump’s immigration policies. The church members tied the colorful strips of fabric to the wrought iron fence to symbolize the children separated from their parents under the government’s zero tolerance immigration policies.

The video footage, which is grainy, shows a city DPW pickup truck pull up to the church shortly before 5:45 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 15.

In the footage, a man gets out of the truck around 7:15 a.m. and begins ripping down the hundreds of ribbons from the fence. He throws the fabric in a garbage can, places it in the back of the truck and drives off about 10 minutes later. Another man appears to be standing by but doesn’t rip down the any of the ribbons.

The worker told the city it was an honest mistake, Mayor Patrick Madden's spokesman John Salka said Monday. The man had been directed to remove trash from the street, Salka said.

It's unclear why the worker thought the ribbons were trash. A sign on the fence says what they're for and it was not removed. It's also unclear why a city employee decided to remove items from private property.

Bob Blackmon, a member of the congregation, said the mayor told him the employee did not realize he was destroying a display installed by the church and thought he was just cleaning up trash. Blackmon said he was told the employee would be writing an apology letter for his actions.

“The mayor insists there was no ill will,” Blackmon said.

However, he has doubts that the real story is being told.

"It just simply makes no sense," Blackmon said, and he wondered if someone told the worker to take down the ribbons.

Blackmon said if the church can recover the ribbons and bows that it would likely hang them back up.