Video shows American flag being slashed "to ribbons" outside Queens bar
A man was seen on surveillance video slashing an American flag hanging outside a New York City bar.
The man was seen damaging the flag on Tuesday afternoon at Geordie's Joint on Jamaica Avenue in Queens.
Video shows the man riding up to the bar on his bicycle, jumping up to reach the flag, and then cutting it up.
Employee Pat Robinson reported the vandalism to police Wednesday, saying it was "slashed to ribbons."
The damaged flag was turned over to the Knights of Columbus to be properly disposed of. The local American Legion also promised to send the bar a new flag.
Destroying an American flag is protected under free speech but, in this case, the damage was done to private property attached to the front of the building. That makes a charge like criminal mischief more likely.
Trump wants to crack down on people who desecrate flags
President Trump has been vocal about wanting to change this for years. In August 2025, he signed an executive order seeking to punish people who burned the flag.
The order didn't direct the attorney general to prosecute people who burn flags for the act itself. Rather, the order suggested prosecutors should try to bring other charges against people who desecrate flags, such as crimes against property, hate crimes and discrimination.
"And what the penalty is going to be, if you burn a flag, you get one year in jail, no early exits, no nothing," the president previously said.
Decades old Supreme Court ruling protects burning American flags
The Supreme Court voted 5-4 in 1989 that burning the country's flag is protected expression under the First Amendment.
In the landmark case Texas v. Johnson, the court ruled that it is symbolic speech. Just because people find the action offensive, it doesn't mean it is illegal, the court affirmed.
The case arose after Gregory Lee Johnson was convicted under a Texas law that prohibited flag desecration. He was sentenced to one year in jail and given a $2,000 fine after he burned the flag as a protest against the Ronald Reagan administration in 1984.
