The towering granite monument engraved with the Ten Commandments took years to make and was plagued by controversy, but finally on Tuesday morning it was installed on the grounds of the Arkansas State Capitol.

It did not last long.

Less than 24 hours after it was embedded into a base of concrete and steel rods behind the Capitol building, the monument, which weighed about three tons, was smashed into pieces when Michael Tate Reed II, a 32-year-old resident of the city of Van Buren in western Arkansas, slammed his car into it, according to Pulaski County sheriff’s office records and state officials.

Mr. Reed apparently wanted its demise to live in posterity. Chris Powell, the spokesman for the Arkansas secretary of state, said Mr. Reed recorded the destruction on Facebook Live.

“Oh my goodness,” Mr. Reed said in a gravelly voice as he drove his Dodge Dart onto the pitch-dark Capitol grounds, the monument slowly looming into view as it was picked up by his headlights at 4:47 a.m. on Wednesday.