Police have impounded a car spotted doing burnouts on central Gisborne's rainbow pedestrian crossing on Friday night.
The car was allegedly doing skids on the crossing at about 8:30pm.
Officers checked CCTV footage and identified the car which left "fresh skid marks" on the crossing, a police spokesperson told Newshub.
They later found the car just after 2am on Saturday and impounded it.
Video circulating on social media shows people doing what appears to be idle skids in a station wagon, directly on top of the crossing.
Black tyre marks can be seen marking the crossing as the vehicle drives off.
It comes after police charged three people with "graffiti vandalism" on Friday, for allegedly painting over the crossing with white paint.
Inspector Danny Kirk of Tairāwhiti said police would be seeking "reparation of costs" for the damage, which happened on Monday night.
"We consider that, on the face of it, the alleged offending is consistent with a hate crime, and we will seek to establish that as fact during the ongoing investigations and court proceedings," said Insp Kirk.
Gisborne mayor Rehette Stoltz blasted Monday's defacement as an act of hatred and division.
"We accept that people hold different views however there is no place for hate or bigotry in Tairāwhiti."
The council had repainted the rainbow crossing by Wednesday morning.
Later that afternoon, several members linked to Destiny Church were arrested after they turned up to the crossing in protest of the council's actions.
They were met by a heavy police presence and by crowds of counter-protesters too.
