The criminal mischief charges were for burning the newspapers but not the flag itself, police said.
LAWRENCE - Three men were charged with criminal mischief early Sunday after they lit a stack of newspapers and American flag on fire after leaving a Trenton bar, police said today.
The men also broke a fence and threw a sign for a local development into the road, Lt. Mark Ubry said.
"Evidently they were intoxicated," Ubry said.
The three men took the stack of 50 Times of Trenton newspapers from outside the Halo Farm store on Spruce Street and set them ablaze with an American flag on top, Ubry said. It is unclear where they obtained the flag, Ubry said.
A police officer was patrolling the area around 4:30 a.m. and found the bundle of newspapers aflame, along with a broken post and rail fence. A sign for the Tiffany Woods housing development had been thrown into the road, police said.
The officer detained Michal Kasperski, 21, of Bristol, Pa., Krzysztof Kutnik, 25, of Falls Township, Pa., and Lukasz Koziol, 24, of Ewing.
All three men were charged with two counts of criminal mischief: one for burning the newspapers and the other for breaking the fence, Ubry said. About $500 worth of damage was reported to the fence.
Police did not file charges for burning the flag, which is covered under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. However, Ubry said police could file theft charges if they determine the flag was stolen.
Anyone with information on where the flag may have come from is asked to call police at (609) 896-1111.
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