Police Officer Stands By As Man Harasses Woman For Wearing Puerto Rico Shirt In Forest Preserve
Filed Under:Local TV, talkers
CHICAGO (CBS/CNN) — The Cook Country Forest preserve has placed a police officer on desk duty after a video showed the officer standing by as a man harassed a woman for wearing a shirt with the Puerto Rican flag.
"You're not American, if you were American you wouldn't wear that. You know that right?" says the man, who appears to be intoxicated. The video, posted on Facebook, has been viewed more than 1.2 million times.
Cook County Board Chairman Toni Preckwinkle said today that she will be speaking with Puerto Rico's governor about the incident.
"The incident … is completely unacceptable," Preckwinkle said. "I apologize to the young woman who had this terrible experience. I am troubled by the response of the initial officer on the scene."
She said she learned of the incident last night.
Mia Irizarry says she was trying to celebrate her 24th birthday last month when the man approached her asking her why she was wearing the sleeveless Puerto Rico flag shirt, which also had "Puerto Rico" written below the V neckline.
Irizarry recorded the encounter on her phone, saying she felt threatened, and posted the video to Facebook.
For several minutes the man berates Irizarry and at one point stands a few inches from her. In the background, a police officer is standing outside the park pavilion.
On Monday, the Forest Preserve tweeted that it was aware of the June 14 incident at an undisclosed park location and video.
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
In the footage, the man can be seen approaching Irizarry saying: "You should not be wearing that in the United States of America." He gets closer to her and asks "Are you a citizen? Are you a United States citizen?"
Irizarry can be heard saying that Puerto Rico is part of the United States and the man approaches her multiple times.
Irizarry asks a park police officer to help, saying "I am renting this area and he's harassing me about the shirt that I'm wearing."
Later she says: "Officer, I feel entirely uncomfortable, can you remove … please officer" as the officer is seen walking away from her.
Then she says: "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 officer can then be seen talking to the man who gesticulates back and tells him to "shut the f*** up."
Later, more police arrive and Irizarry says she still doesn't feel safe. The man resumes his abuse, saying: "You're not American, if you were American you wouldn't wear that. You know that right?"
The female officer asked to see the man's ID and can be heard telling him that he's intoxicated to which he replies "well that's your judgment." She explains that Irizarry has a permit and she warns him that he could be arrested "for not being compliant."
"You don't come here harassing people," the officer continues. "People have just as much right to be here as you and when you're drunk, you don't belong here."
The female officer then speaks with Irizarry who gives her version of the incident and the officer explains that they were called to the area after a report that a man was choking a woman.
Eventually the first officer on the scene takes notes of Irizarry's account of the incident and says that he was at the scene due to the separate incident, noting that she was not being attacked though acknowledging she felt threatened.
Irizarry can be heard explaining to the officer that the incident began when they had asked the group the man was in if they could move as they had a permit for the area. She said the group politely complied but her Puerto Rico shirt appeared to act as a trigger to the man.
Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello reacted to the video on Twitter.
The United States of America is a nation that was built and thrives on diversity. We cannot allow those who do not understand America's greatness to terrorize people because of their background. This is not the America we all believe in.
— Ricardo Rossello (@ricardorossello) July 10, 2018
The-CNN-Wire
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