Charges Dropped Against Chattanooga Left-Wing Activists Who Burned Sheriff’s Office Flag

Photo: Black Lives Matter Mural Painted on MLK Boulevard by activists in Chattanooga, TN Photo Credit: Pexels / CC

The Tennessee Conservative Staff-

All criminal charges against four Chattanooga protestors have been dropped after the group agreed to pay a mere $80.85 for the flag that they burned.

Marie Mott and Cameron Dequintez Williams were charged in July 2020 with vandalism and reckless burning after taking a custom flag from the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office and burning it during a protest in Miller Park.

The pair, along with co-defendants Cedric Josey and Grason Harvey, were also charged with misdemeanors for obstructing a highway and disorderly conduct for blocking an emergency vehicle at the intersection of Main and Market streets. The vehicle was trying to respond to a motorcycle crash with injuries.

The protests were led by Mott after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020. She later tried unsuccessfully to run for City Council.

Judge Boyd Patterson spoke to the group during the hearing on Thursday in Hamilton County Criminal Court, “This is a lesson learned, to cooperate moving forward.”

Josey acknowledged that the penalty was justified, saying, “It was fair, but it should have been done quicker.”

The original charges were filed in July 2020. Two charges were dropped and the case moved on to the Criminal Court in April 2021. Seven months later, the grand jury gave its decision, but the final decision was not given out until over a year later.

Williams, who goes by his rap name “C-Grimey”, complained about the timing of the decision.

“I’d like to point out the wasted public resources that the Sheriff’s Office and the district attorney used on prosecuting this case over two years. Time of prosecutors, judges, attorneys,” Williams said.

Mott stood by her decision to burn the flag.

“The strategy could have been a lot cleaner,” Mott said after the hearing. “That could change, the strategy, but the reasons for being there will never change.”

Mott is well-known in Hamilton County for her left-wing activism.

Attorney McCracken Poston says the flag will be paid for by Monday.

“On day one, I suggested, if we pay for the flag, why doesn’t this be dismissed? But I think people have to get through things as a culture,” Poston said.

Poston continued, “There was no American flag burned. That was an unfortunate thing that everybody thought.”