A 41-year-old homeless woman allegedly walked up to St. Mary's Church in Bay Shore, Long Island, on May 15 and ripped the head off a Jesus statue that had stood outside the parish for roughly 12 years — and police are still scratching their chins over whether this qualifies as a hate crime.

Really? You decapitate the Son of God in front of a Catholic church and the investigation is still in the "potential" phase? Imagine — just imagine — someone did this to a Pride flag or a George Floyd mural. We'd have the FBI, the DOJ, and Anderson Cooper on-site before the sun came up.

Deyonna Subert was arrested Wednesday at approximately 6:39 a.m. near 221 West Main Street and charged with second-degree criminal mischief. According to Newsmax, the incident occurred at approximately 11:15 p.m. on May 15, when Subert allegedly severed the head from the statue. Father Anthony Iaconis, the church's pastor, later discovered the severed head discarded in nearby bushes on the church grounds.

The statue now sits covered with a tarp. Twelve years it watched over that parish. Parishioners have been leaving flowers at its base.

Let that image sit with you for a second. A community mourning a statue of Jesus Christ like it's a crime scene — because it is one.

Suert was scheduled for arraignment on May 21 at First District Court in Central Islip. Her attorney wasted no time with the spin, stating that "there has been no allegation that the vandalism officially constitutes a hate crime" and that "the only position we have taken is to deny the charges."

Deny the charges. A statue's head was found in the bushes. But sure, let's play Perry Mason about it.

Here's the thing that should make your blood boil: we live in a country where spray-painting a crosswalk gets you a federal hate crime investigation, but physically destroying a religious icon outside a house of worship gets you a criminal mischief charge and a polite investigation into whether hatred was "really" involved.

The church itself issued a statement thanking supporters for their prayers while also warning parishioners about fraudulent donation solicitations that had already started popping up. Because of course — where there's tragedy, there are grifters. At least the church had the sense to flag it.

This isn't an isolated incident, and we all know it. Attacks on Catholic churches have been climbing for years now. Vandalism, arson, graffiti — you name it. And every single time, the response from authorities is the same tepid, eyes-half-closed routine. "We're investigating." "We're looking into whether it's motivated by bias." Meanwhile, anyone who defaces a mosque or a synagogue — rightfully — gets the full weight of federal law enforcement within hours.

We're not asking for special treatment. We're asking for equal treatment. If you behead a statue of Jesus outside a Catholic church, that's a hate crime. Period. Full stop. You don't need a focus group or a committee to figure that out.

The flowers at the base of that broken statue say everything the authorities won't. The parishioners of St. Mary's know exactly what this was. The rest of us do too.