Woman arrested after cutting South Vietnam flags in southwest Houston, police say

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A woman is in custody after allegedly vandalizing 21 flags representing the former Republic of Vietnam along Bellaire Boulevard in Houston, raising concerns within the Vietnamese-American community and prompting calls for a hate crime investigation.

Video shows the 44-year-old woman, fully covered, using scissors to cut chunks out of each flag, discarding them on the ground as she moved from one to the next. The incident occurred Sunday evening. She was eventually apprehended by Houston police.

"Put the scissors down," Giang Nguyen heard a Houston police officer tell the woman. "They were not cut, ripped sideways," he described.

Nguyen, who witnesses the arrest, shared photographs showing the flags ripped or shredded. He said the act is deeply offensive.

"That represents us. That tells which Vietnamese we are, not the communist side but the Vietnamese, that fought for what we have today," he said.

The flags are being displayed ahead of the upcoming solemn commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon on April 30 and the end of the Vietnam War, which led to the reunification of Vietnam under communist rule and forced hundreds of thousands in South Vietnam to flee.

"My family had to escape 6 times," said Bryan Chu. "I was put in prison when I was 8 and 9 years old."

Chu, a dentist, is also the president of the Vietnamese Community of Houston and Vicinities, the organization that plants the flags every year at this time.

"It means freedom. It means free from communism. It means independence," Chu said, adding that the vandalism feels like an attack on Vietnamese refugees.

Interestingly, the American flags placed alongside the South Vietnam flags were untouched.

Police have not yet released the suspect's name but confirmed she is a Black female.

"She's not Asian, she's not Vietnamese. She has no affiliation with this flag," Nguyen said.

Community leaders are calling for the incident to be further investigated.

"I hope we can charge her with a hate crime because she targeted all the Vietnamese flags on purpose and I hope to find out who's behind this," Chu said.

So far, the woman has been charged with disorderly conduct, but she could face more charges, Houston police said.

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