Woman replaces US flag with Mexican flag at California park, cops say. She’s arrested
A woman was arrested after she was accused of taking down a United States flag at a public park and replacing it with a Mexican flag, California deputies say.
Kern County deputies received multiple reports about a person trying to steal the American flag from at the entrance of Hart Memorial Park in Bakersfield the morning of Thursday, Feb. 6, the sheriff’s office said in an Instagram post.
When park rangers arrived, they found a sedan sitting in muddy grass near the flagpole, deputies said.
Rangers determined a 24-year-old woman cut the flagpole’s chain and took down the American flag, deputies said.
She then threw the flag in the mud and raised a Mexican flag on the pole, according to deputies.
Body camera footage from one the rangers shows the woman yelling at deputies as they arrive at the park.
“You’re not going to tell me what to do,” she says. “This is Mexican land.”
Park rangers tried to detain the woman, but she resisted and threatened them, deputies said.
The woman was ultimately taken into custody and booked on charges of threatening a peace officer, vandalism, resisting arrest, trespassing in a vehicle and violation of county ordinance for possession of marijuana in a park, according to deputies.
Bakersfield is about a 110-mile drive northwest from Los Angeles.
This story was originally published February 7, 2025 at 11:23 AM with the headline "Woman replaces US flag with Mexican flag at California park, cops say. She’s arrested."
