{"id":2386,"date":"2011-12-30T13:46:46","date_gmt":"2011-12-30T21:46:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/?p=2386"},"modified":"2011-12-30T13:46:46","modified_gmt":"2011-12-30T21:46:46","slug":"2-u-s-flags-burned-at-occupy-charlotte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/2011\/12\/2-u-s-flags-burned-at-occupy-charlotte\/","title":{"rendered":"2 U.S. Flags Burned at Occupy Charlotte"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script type='text\/javascript' src='http:\/\/www.wbtv.com\/global\/video\/videoplayer.js?rnd=763690;hostDomain=www.wbtv.com;playerWidth=300;playerHeight=240;isShowIcon=true;clipId=6593584;flvUri=;partnerclipid=;adTag=News;advertisingZone=;enableAds=true;landingPage=;islandingPageoverride=false;playerType=STANDARD_EMBEDDEDscript;controlsType=fixed'><\/script><\/p>\n<p>By Ron Lee<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.wbtv.com\/story\/16416265\/protesters-arrested-uptown-after-setting-fire-to-the-american-flag\">CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV)<\/a> &#8211; Four protesters, including a teenager, were charged after setting fire to two American flags early Friday near the Occupy Charlotte camp in Center City, police said.<\/p>\n<p>Charlotte-Mecklenburg police aren&#8217;t sure if the four men who set fire to two flags were associated with the Occupy Charlotte movement, but say it happened with in feet of the group&#8217;s encampment.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier reports indicated one flag was burned, but a police report says that 2 US flags were burned.<\/p>\n<p>Officers said they noticed the suspects lighting something on fire directly in front of the Occupy camp along Trade Street around 12:30 a.m. Friday morning.<\/p>\n<p>Police swarmed the area, and detained the men while firefighters were called in to knock down the flames. About $30 worth of damage was caused to landscaping at the site.<\/p>\n<p>It was only after the fire was out did officials figure out what was burning, the American flag.<\/p>\n<p>Police said the men claimed they were burning the flag in protest.  Burning the flag is not illegal, however doing it outside of a fire pit, and within ten feet from flammable tents poses a problem.<\/p>\n<p>Officers arrested 20-year-old Stephen Christopher Morris of Matthews, 28-year-old Jason Bargert of Charlotte, 23-year-old Michael Alan Behrle of Matthews and 19-year-old Alex Macon Tyler of Fort Mill.<\/p>\n<p>All four men were charged with being careless with fire. That charge is a misdemeanor under the city ordnance.<\/p>\n<p>Police officers told WBTV the protesters gave them a verbal tongue-lashing while being detained, calling then fascists, as well as using other colorful words.<\/p>\n<p>Crime Scene Investigators collected the remains of the flag, and placed it into evidence. A cigarette lighter was also confiscated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Ron Lee CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) &#8211; Four protesters, including a teenager, were charged after setting fire to two American flags early Friday near the Occupy Charlotte camp in Center City, police said. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[1131,1269,316,1075],"tags":[4643,4645,651,4646,4647,4644],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2386"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2386\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}