NEW YORK, NY – Hours after a woman set fire to a pride flag outside Little Prince, a restaurant in Manhattan’s South Village, owners replaced it with a new on.
“Defiant,” the business owners said in a post on social media today after a woman set fire to a flag outside the business overnight.
According to police, at around 1:35 am, the woman, a passenger in a white SUV, exited the vehicle and set fire to a pride flag outside the business.
Detectives with the New York City Police Department’s 1st Precinct are investigating the incident as arson and a hate crime.
“It was reported to police that on Monday, February 20, 2023 at approximately 1:35 am, a white four door SUV pulled over in front of ‘Little Prince’, a commercial establishment located at 199 Prince Street,” the NYPD said today in a statement. “An unknown individual exited the front passenger side of the vehicle and approached the establishment on foot.”
The femalee suspect then ignited a fire to a gay pride flag hanging in front of the location.
The fire spread, causing exterior damage to the restaurant.
“The individual immediately fled back into the vehicle that was being operated by another unknown individual. The vehicle was last seen travelling westbound on Prince Street towards MacDougal Street,” police said.
No injuries were reported during the incident. Police described the suspect as a female with a light complexion and long dark colored hair.
This incident is being investigated by the NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, on Twitter @NYPDTips.