Flag incident at Trenton school enrages city officials
TRENTON » A group of city kids who allegedly desecrated the American flag over the weekend, ripping it down and stomping on it, outside a district school found themselves in the crosshairs of an outraged city councilman.
And they could find themselves in legal trouble despite engaging in what a civil rights group said is protected speech.
It was unclear whether police are investigating what happened at Grace A. Dunn Middle School, in the city’s South Ward. The incident happened around 7 p.m. Sunday, South Ward City Councilman George Muschal said, painting it as the latest erosion of the city’s moral fabric.
A police spokesman didn’t respond to a detailed message left on his cell phone about whether officers responded to the middle school or are investigating the matter.
When residents in the area noticed the hullabaloo, they looked to intervene.
Muschal called the episode “disrespectful” to fallen veterans and anyone who has served in the country’s armed forces.
The councilman’s stance was more tempered than President Donald Trump who last fall tweeted flag-burning or intentional destruction of the flag should result in loss of citizenship and jail time.
Trump’s stance flew in the face of two Supreme Court decisions that protects flag-burning under the First Amendment.
Trenton school district spokesman Parry Lattiboudere wasn’t aware of the flag-stomping episode until he was contacted by The Trentonian. He said he would get back to the newspaper with more information about whether the district plans to investigate.
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey said destruction of the American flag, while repugnant to some like Muschal, is protected free speech.
The incident, however, took place at the middle school, perhaps opening up the city kids to potential charges of trespassing. Without a separate charge to stand, a legal expert said officials would have a hard time justifying criminal charges against the youth if it was based only on the alleged offensive behavior.
“It’s been the law of the land for more than 30 years,” Jeanne LoCicero, deputy legal director at the ALCU-NJ, said about citizens’ right to burn and desecrate flags. “The ACLU has always opposed efforts to criminalize that conduct and would continue to do so.”
Muschal said, by the time he arrived at the school, about an hour after the incident, the flag was back in its proper place, in front of the school.
He said while he is not in favor of charges being filed against the youth, they should be seriously talked to about their actions.
“It’s bad,” he said.