Woman Charged With Hate Crime After Stomping on ‘Back the Blue’ Sign in Front of Officer

A woman in Utah was charged with a hate crime for stomping on a pro-police sign in front of an officer after he gave her friend a speeding ticket.

The incident happened at a gas station in Garfield County. The woman was trying to console her friend, who was upset about the ticket and allegedly stomped on a “Back the Blue” sign while the sheriff’s deputy, who issued the ticket, was still sitting nearby in his parked patrol car.

The deputy then got out and arrested her on the spot, charging her with disorderly conduct and criminal mischief with a hate crime enhancement, which carries a sentence of up to a year in jail.

“I observed one of the friends… stomping on a ‘Back the Blue’ sign next to where the traffic stop was conducted, crumple it up in a destructive manner and throw it into a trash can all while smirking in an intimidating manner towards me,” the officer wrote in charging documents.

The deputy claimed the signs were made by the sheriff’s department and said the woman was “destroying property that did not belong to her.”