A woman has been arrested in Bradley County after an off-duty deputy reported to Tennessee State Park rangers he saw her take down the U.S. and Tennessee flags at Red Clay State Park, place them on the ground and stomp on them.
Emily Arianna Warren, 34, of Hamilton County, was arrested by park officials with assistance from the sheriff’s office and booked on two counts of desecration of a flag, vandalism under $500 and criminal trespassing, Bradley County Sheriff’s Office spokesman James Bradford said. Warren’s bond was set at $1,250, Bradford said.
“When officers made contact, she stated this was not the first time she had removed flags at the park, and also admitted she swam in the blue hole located inside the park that clearly has signage that says, ‘No trespassing,'” Bradford said.
According to Tennessee law, the desecration charge is a class A misdemeanor under the code defining desecration of venerated objects. Offenses include desecration of “a state or national flag,” along with a place of worship or burial.
Bradford said patrol deputies were contacted “about a woman burning a flag” at the park, but there was no indication that the flags were burned in addition to being stomped on.
Tennessee State Parks spokeswoman Kim Schoetzow said the witness who saw Warren take down the flags was an off-duty Meigs County sheriff’s deputy. That deputy contacted his counterparts in Bradley County, who relayed the information back to park rangers at Red Clay.
“Warren identified herself as Lakota [Indian] and a member of the Rainbow Coalition but provided no identification documents,” Schoetzow said.
Park manager Erin Medley made the arrest.
According to Medley, vandalism is “very rare” at the park and she has no knowledge of anything like this having happened in her 10 years working at Red Clay, Schoetzow said.
The spokeswoman said state parks officials strive to provide safe, secure locations for visitors and that Wednesday’s incident “should not change our operations at Red Clay.”
Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or twitter.com/BenBenton or www.facebook.com/ben.benton1 or 423-757-6569.