Flag Burner Strikes At Ditmas Park Home
On Friday, October 6 neighbor Cindy Harden awoke to find her family’s nylon American flag burned down to a pile of ashes, with only a charred pole left and in its wake. The flag was hanging from the porch before it was torched. [Correction: October 6 was Thursday, not Friday).
This incident was reported to the police on the morning of October 6 on East 17th Street in the 70 Precinct, according to NYPD. Police said the incident has been classified as criminal mischief, as the perpetrator damaged property.
Harden told DPC that she has lived in Ditmas Park for 25 years and has never experienced anything like this.
Harden says:
“My husband saw it first when he left to go to work. He came back in to get me and show me. I literally gasped when I saw it and was really quite shaken, almost in tears. To know someone purposely decided to come onto your property and destroy something as symbolic as the flag is quite disturbing.”
Also, most of the houses in the neighborhood are wood frame and close together – so a fire could have easily started – that could have spread to other homes as well.
Harden also remains concerned over the classification of the crime as a criminal misdemeanor as opposed to arson, which is defined as setting fire to property.
In addition, DPC is looking into an additional claim of another porch flag burning in West Midwood on Labor Day. [Update 3pm: Police reports confirm that there was a previous flag burning in the middle of the night from September 4 to September 5 on Argyle Road between Foster Avenue and Glenwood Road. The incident was labeled as criminal mischief, and reports state that the incident left damage to the flag and flagpole.]
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