A Harlem man has been arrested and charged with arson after he set fire to pride flags outside of a gay bar in the neighborhood on two occasions in just over a month, police said Tuesday.
Tyresse Singleton, 20, was captured on surveillance video not long after midnight on Monday setting fire to one of the rainbow flags outside the Alibi Lounge on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard, near West 139th Street, police said.
“We simply have no words!” the bar wrote on Instagram on Monday with a photo of the burned flag.
The flags on either side of the entrance had replaced two that were burned just weeks before on May 31. Police also released video of that incident, but Singleton remained at large until Tuesday.
He is charged with two counts of criminal mischief as a hate crime and two counts of arson, according to police.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who had directed the State Police Hate Crimes Task Force to assist the NYPD investigation of both incidents, said he was appalled by the flag burnings.
"This act of hate is repugnant to our values of equality and inclusion, and we will not stand by and allow these cowardly acts to continue in New York," Cuomo said in a statement.
