Pennsylvania officials denounce Halloween float appearing to depict Harris tied to golf cart

Outrage has followed the release of a video from a Halloween parade in Pennsylvania that seemed to depict Vice President Kamala Harris tied to a golf cart carrying a man wearing a mask of former President Donald Trump.

The float moved along a main street in Mount Pleasant, a town of about 4,000 people located 45 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. The event was hosted by the local volunteer fire department.

In the video, a woman wearing a red suit walks slowly — and apparently tied — behind the golf cart, which is also carrying two men dressed like Secret Service agents and a man dressed like a sniper. What appeared to be a replica of an assault rifle is affixed to the hood of the vehicle, which has a Trump sign on the front.

Mount Pleasant Mayor Diane Bailey, a Democrat, told WPXI-TV, a local NBC affiliate, that she was “appalled” by the float and that it looked like “there was either a rope or a chain that was attached to the back of the vehicle.” Josh Huff, a man who attended the parade, said it looked like the float was “simulating a lynching.”

Bailey did not return a request for comment from NBC News.

In a statement on Facebook on Thursday night, the Mount Pleasant Volunteer Fire Department apologized “for allowing the offensive participants” into the parade.

“We do not share in the values represented by those participants, and we understand how it may have hurt or offended members of our community,” the post said. The fire department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News or share who did the float belong to.

Michelle Milan McFall, chair of the Westmoreland County Democratic Party, described the display as “vile.”

“It’s heartbreaking. It’s concerning. And I think it’s also got an element of danger. Again, we’re living in this climate where people aren’t just thinking about hatred and feeling it in their guts and bones. They’re acting on it. We have to take down the temperature,” McFall said.

Bill Bretz, chair of the Westmoreland County Republican Committee, told WPXI-TV that the group doesn’t condone “the simulation of political imprisonment or violence in any context.”

The Harris campaign did not immediately return a request for comment on the parade depiction.

In a statement, Daylon A. Davis, president of Pittsburgh’s NAACP branch, blasted the act as “harmful” and racist.

“This appalling portrayal goes beyond the realm of Halloween satire or free expression; it is a harmful symbol that evokes a painful history of violence, oppression, and racism that Black and brown communities have long endured here in America.”

“We urge the event organizers and local leaders to implement clearer guidelines to prevent this type of hateful and hurtful display from occurring in the future,” Davis said.

The fire department said on Facebook that it has “traditionally only provided safety & traffic control” during the parade. “We will be reviewing our planning processes to prevent a situation like this from happening again.”

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com