Man arrested after harassing woman as un-American for wearing Puerto Rico flag shirt

An Illinois park is facing scrutiny after a woman alleged one of its officers avoided responding when she was being harassed by an intoxicated man who called her shirt bearing the Puerto Rican flag un-American. 

The man has since been arrested for assault and disorderly conduct, according to the park.

{mosads}Mia Irizarry told CNN she was celebrating her 24th birthday at the Forest Preserves of Cook County in June when she was approached by an intoxicated man who asked her why she was wearing a Puerto Rico flag shirt.

Irizarry said the man said: “You should not be wearing that in the United States of America.” Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory. 

This is CRAZY! Watch as the white officer ignores this woman begging him to protect her from this racist! This man is literally in her face and the officer does absolutely nothing as she pleads to be protected.

RETWEET THIS! pic.twitter.com/nZsEV4LfA9

— StanceGrounded (@_SJPeace_) July 9, 2018

In a video Irizarry shared of the incident on Facebook that has since been deleted, CNN reported that the man also asked, “Are you a citizen? Are you a United States citizen?” while walking closer to her.

After being approached by the man multiple times, Irizarry reportedly asked a park police officer for help in dealing with the intoxicated individual, adding that she felt threatened by the unknown man. 

“I am renting this area and he’s harassing me about the shirt that I’m wearing,” the woman said to the officer. 

“Officer, I feel entirely uncomfortable, can you remove … please officer,” she continued to say as the officer reportedly was seen walking away from Irizarry on the video, as reported by CNN. 

“Officer, I’m renting, I paid for a permit for this area … I do not feel comfortable with him here, is there anything you can do?” the woman continued, before the officer eventually confronted the man, who reportedly told him to “shut the f— up.”

A female officer reportedly arrived at the scene and also confronted the intoxicated man, asking to see his ID.

“You don’t come here harassing people,” the female officer can be heard telling the man. “People have just as much right to be here as you, and when you’re drunk, you don’t belong here.”

The Forest Preserves of Cook County on Monday said it was aware of the June 14 incident and footage on Twitter.

‏”After the incident, we immediately launched an investigation pursuant to our personnel policies into the response of our officer,” the park said. “The investigation is ongoing and the officer involved has been assigned to desk duty pending the outcome. The intoxicated individual involved in the incident was arrested and charged with assault and disorderly conduct.”

All people are welcome in the Forest Preserves of Cook County and no one should feel unsafe while visiting our preserves.

— Forest Preserves (@FPDCC) July 9, 2018

The footage of the incident garnered more than 1 million views on Facebook before being taken down, but a shorter, edited version is still circulating on Twitter.