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Charlie Garrett, co-owner of the Dapper Dog Tattoo Shop, told
police Friday morning that the store had been vandalized. He
said it was the third time someone had removed the flag, which
reads, “ABIDE NO HATRED.” In response, Garrett said he installed
a security camera.
Closed-circuit video footage showed a man in a black
puffer-style vest walking toward the store at approximately 1
a.m. Friday, police said, before he “forcefully ripped” the flag
from above the shop’s awning. According to charging documents,
the man was then seen putting it into a trash can.
Caroline Norman Frost, an attorney representing the man, told
The Associated Press that her client “has no hate towards any
person or protected class.”
“He certainly does not have any dislike or ill will towards the
groups involved in this case, and this is a misunderstanding,
and I think that that will all come to light when this case is
complete with a disposition,” Norman Frost said.
The tattoo shop posted a photo of the man on social media and
asked for help identifying him.
Police wrote in charging documents that the suspect is a Dallas
resident who served in the U.S. Marine Corps and graduated from
the academy, The Baltimore Sun reported. According to a Marine
Corps spokesperson, he served from 2004 to 2013.
A woman who worked at a nearby restaurant contacted authorities
Saturday morning and told police she had served the man in the
video the night before, according to the charging documents.
After providing police with the man's name and credit card
receipt, the woman said she “immediately” recognized him from
the Dapper Dog post, police said.
He was also charged with malicious destruction of property. Both
it and the hate crime charge, which in this case relates to
property crimes, are misdemeanors.
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