Sheriff’s deputy suspended for removing a Nazi flag

A Pennsylvania sheriff’s deputy has been suspended for removing a flag with a swastika on it that was flying on private property.

Deputy Colin Meeker was suspended without pay, and is under investigation for allegedly entering the private property of a white supremacist group in Ulysses and removing a flag displaying Nazi symbols while on the job 

Daniel Burnside, the director of the National Socialist Movement, told police that around 4pm a neighbor witnessed a deputy get out of a McKean County Sheriff’s Department car and enter Burnside’s property.

A Nazi flag with a swastika that was flying on the private property of Daniel Burnside (pictured) was removed by a deputy. After Burnside reported it the deputy was suspended without pay

The incident, which took place on January 21, happened while Meeker was serving court papers in the area. 

Burnside alleged that Meeker climbed over a wall and went 15 feet onto his property and removed the flag from the flagpole, according to the Olean Times Herald.  

The flag images included a Nazi swastika with skull and crossbones in the center, along with SS insignia and Iron Crosses.

Meeker, who also serves in the Pennsylvania National Guard, was later asked by Burnside for a video-taped apology after he had apologized while accompanied by a second deputy and had returned the flag. 

Meeker wouldn’t do it, and Burnside said that that made him believe the deputy ‘had no remorse for his actions’ and was ‘very unprofessional.’

‘It wasn’t until he returned my damaged flag that I learned his name,’ Burnside said. 

Burnside then contacted the state police to report the incident.

The state police station’s commander Sgt. Kerby Young confirmed that Burnside did file a report on the theft of a flag.