Burbank

Burbank Police Recover American Flag From Homeless Man Using It as Blanket

Burbank Police Department

Burbank police officers traded a homeless man some blankets for an American flag Wednesday, returning the massive banner to the local American Legion he had taken it from.

Officers spotted the man wrapped in the flag and sleeping on the ground. When talking with them, the man admitted to taking the flag from the American Legion in Burbank, where it and others had been stored in boxes for disposal.

The Legion collects faded and damaged flags from the community so they can be burned in a ceremony. A set of them had been set aside on the Legion's property, according to Sgt. Derek Green, a department spokesman.

He said a group of homeless people found and rummaged through the boxes, though no other flags are believed missing.

City officers working Wednesday night, many of whom Green said are veterans, folded the flag and returned it.

"When you find a possible stolen American Flag, at the right time, to remind us - we are all in this together," Burbank police said in the caption of a Facebook post that showed officers folding the standard.

No arrest was made, Green said, and the homeless man who took the flag was given some blankets.

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