Police officer harasses woman for wearing Puerto Rican flag shirt

Investigators to interview the officer this week regarding the incident

A woman in the US was subjected to harassment at the hands of a police officer for wearing a shirt with a Puerto Rican flag at the Illinois based, Forest Preserves of Cook County, CNN reported.

The park is currently investigating the conduct of the police officer in question, who has been assigned to desk duty till the investigation reaches its conclusion.

Mia Irizarry who was celebrating her 24th birthday at the park last month, was approached by a man, a park police officer, who repeatedly asked her as to why she was wearing a sleeveless Puerto Rico flag shirt?



The officer continued to abuse Irizzary in the video she recorded, despite the woman making it clear that she was feeling uncomfortable and violated.

"You're not American, if you were American you wouldn't wear that. You know that right?" the harassing officer added referring to the woman’s shirt.

Irizarry recorded a video of the encounter and uploaded it on Facebook.

A female police officer also intervened at the scene and asked to see the harassing officer's ID in the video, and telling him that he’s drunk and not to harass people who come here as the "people have just as much right to be here as you."



The Forest Preserves of Cook County tweeted in response to the incident on Monday, that it was aware of the incident that occurred on June 14, and added that everyone is welcome in its preserves and that no one should feel unsafe.

The investigators are expected to interview the officer this week about the incident, adding that the investigation would wrap up soon.

Puerto Rico’s governor Ricardo Rossello said while talking to CNN said that he was “shocked, appalled and disgusted” when he watched the video, and labelled the encounter an attack by one American on another.

Puerto Rico is a US commonwealth, with its residents being considered US citizens since 1917.

This story originally appeared in CNN