6 Charged with Burning Olympic Flag: Chicago
6 charged with burning Olympic banner
October 1, 2009
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/10/6-charged-in-burning-of-olymp...
Six people were charged with mob action today for yanking an Olympic banner from the Daley Center's Picasso statue and tossing it into the "eternal" flame, authorities said.
Charged are brothers Jeremy Hammond, of Chicago, and Jason Hammond, of Glendale Heights, both 24; Brian Brown, 22, of Itasca; Jeremy Sorkin, 21, of Chicago; Johnathan Clark, 21, of Rocky Mount, N.C.; and Anna Stafford, 20, of Wheatfield, Ind., said Tandra Simonton, a spokeswoman for the Cook County state's attorney's office.
The six were arrested just after 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, but weren't believed to be a part of an anti-Olympics bid rally that took place in front of City Hall earlier that day, police said.
After gathering in the Daley Center, the six pulled down a banner -- valued at thousands of dollars -- from the statue and burned part of it in the flame dedicated to veterans, Chicago Police Lt. Charles Flynn said.
The alleged vandals then got into a confrontation with police officers, who took all six into custody.
They are expected to appear in bond court Thursday, Simonton said.
--William Lee and Jeremy Gorner