A former teacher in Idaho has been charged under a state law that bans desecration of the U.S. flag after he allegedly threw Old Glory on the floor of an administrator's office at Minico High School and stomped it, breaking the pole and ripping the flag from its fastenings.
According to a report in the Twin Falls Times-News, Minidoka County Prosecutor Nikki Cannon has charged former teacher Dan Luker with publicly mutilating a U.S. flag at the school on May 5.
In the count filed this week, Cannon alleges Luker stomped on the flag and did damage to the flagpole in a rage over the treatment of Hispanic students at the school.
The report said Luker, who was working as an English as a second language teacher, has told of his response to a situation in which a gym instructor at the school confiscated a Mexican flag brought by a Latino student who was celebrating Cinco de Mayo, a Mexican holiday, and threw it away.
Luker, who has since quit his post, said his behavior was wrong, the newspaper said. But he said he was pushed into the reaction by the school.
He alleges administrators have exhibited indifference to generalized mistreatment of Latino students – even after he complained about the situation, the newspaper said. The school also was planning cuts in the program under which he was teaching.
"For me, it was less about the flag than it was about preventing the abuse of students and staff. I had made abuse reports previously and the abuse that I reported previously had been allowed to continue," the newspaper reported he said.
After Luker's stunt, dozens of Latino students held a silent protest at the school.
"Fears of possible violence led some parents to keep their children out of school, and one student was arrested for an alleged threat," the report said.
The charges were the result of an sheriff's department investigation requested by Supt. Scott Rogers.
"We feel like the issue has been appropriately resolved," Rogers said. "It's now taking its course through potential legal avenues. We've been directed to not talk about it by legal counsel."
The case may be hard to pursue, however, since the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld such treatment of the flag as free speech.
Still, Melissa Aston, a deputy prosecutor, said the state law still exists and her office's responsibility is to uphold it.
"We are aware that there are some free speech constitutional challenges that will be asserted," said Aston. "The statute is still a valid statute in Idaho, and our office obviously is supposed to uphold and prosecute violations of the laws of the state of Idaho," according to the newspaper.
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