Whoever did this better hope that the police catch them before my neighbors do!
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/sto...p-361819c.html
7 Stars & Stripes torched in B'klyn
BY ALISON FOX and ROBERT F. MOORE
DAILY NEWS WRITERS
Coldhearted vandalsv torched seven American flags flying outside homes in Brooklyn - including the Stars and Stripes hung by the mother of a city firefighter after his death on 9/11.
"How could anyone do this?" asked Regina Coyle, the 55-year-old mother of slain Firefighter James Coyle, who died at the World Trade Center.
Regina Coyle - whose daughter is an NYPD cop - found the burned flag early yesterday outside her Marine Park home on the block named in honor of her heroic son.
She collected the flag's barely recognizable remnants and placed them inside a plastic bag. She then vowed to fly another flag outside her home on Avenue R near E. 36th St.
"You have to stand up for your neighborhood," she said. "You have to stand up for your country." "America has so much to offer."
Coyle's home was one of seven in the blue-collar neighborhood vandalized by the flag burners, who began torching the banners about 7 p.m. Wednesday.
None of the fires caused serious damage to homes in the neighborhood. Police said area teens were likely responsible for the vandalism, which was being investigated as a criminal mischief case.
Andre Mahe, 37, said he smelled smoke and heard his dog barking about 4a.m. outside his E. 38th St. home. But by the time he got outside and doused the flames with a garden hose, the flag was destroyed and the vandals were gone.
"If I had caught him, I would have beaten the living crap out of him," Mahe said. "We've had the flag out there for three years. If they're annoyed with the government, don't go around burning flags."
Three of the flags were burned on the 1700 block of E. 38th St. Two more were torched on the 1800 block of E. 36th St. and another two, including Coyle's, were ignited on Avenue R.
The other flag burned on Coyle's block belonged to Firefighter Brian Geissler.
Geissler joined the FDNY after the terror attacks and is assigned to Manhattan's Ladder 3 in Union Square - the same firehouse where James Coyle worked. Coyle had been on the job for only 10 months when he was killed.
A block away from Geissler's home, Michael Campbell, 39, an Army veteran, replaced his burned flag and saluted the new banner.