A video that shows a man harassing a woman for wearing a shirt with the Puerto Rican flag, calling it 'un-American' has gone viral.
Mia Irizarry says she was celebrating her 24th birthday in the Forest Preserves of Cook County last month when a man approached her and began berating her for wearing a sleeveless Puerto Rico flag shirt.
The Forest Preserves of Cook County tweeted on Monday that they were aware of the June 14 incident and video.
"After the incident, we immediately launched an investigation pursuant to our personnel policies into the response of our officer," Forest Preserves of Cook County tweeted. "The investigation is ongoing and the officer involved has been assigned to desk duty pending the outcome. The intoxicated individual involved in the incident was arrested and charged with assault and disorderly conduct."
"All people are welcome in the Forest Preserves of Cook County and no one should feel unsafe while visiting our preserves."
In footage posted to Facebook, a man can be seen approaching Irizarry saying: "You should not be wearing that in the United States of America." He then approaches her and can be heard asking, "Are you a citizen? Are you a United States citizen?"
Irizarry tries teaching the man about Puerto Rico's history and how the unincorporated territory has been a part of the United States since 1898, but that didn't seem to discourage him. The man continues to approach her multiple times, berating her over her shirt.
Irizarry then approaches a park police officer to ask him for help, saying "I am renting this area and he's harassing me about the shirt that I'm wearing."
Later she says: "Officer, I feel entirely uncomfortable, can you remove ... please officer," but she's ignored and the officer can be seen walking away from her. "Officer, I'm renting, I paid for a permit for this area.. I do not feel comfortable with him here, is there anything you can do? "
The officer is then seen speaking with the man who accosted her, who is gesturing back and forth, telling him to "shut the f*** up."
Even as more police arrive, the man continues his abuse of Irizarry saying, "You're not American, if you were American, you wouldn't wear that. You know that right?"
Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosello commented on the video Monday on Twitter calling it an "undignified event."
"Today a video surfaced of an undignified event in which a Puerto Rican woman was brutally harassed by a bigot while an officer did not interfere. I am appalled, shocked & disturbed by the officer's behavior," Rossello's tweet reads.
You can watch the full video of Irizarry's encounter below. But be warned, the audio is NSFW with harsh and vulgar language present throughout.