He believes most people in Webster are embarrassed by the incident. The Day County State’s attorney says the incident is not a reflection of Webster and it’s his first experience with this kind of threat. He’s currently in the process of moving all of his belongings to Minneapolis, where he says he decided to move because it’s a more accepting community. Kriech lived in Webster for 13 years and says he’s only experienced a couple of negative incidents because he’s gay. Kriech says he won’t rest until Pesall is charged.Īngela, that’s why I reached out to you because I don’t think it’s right, not only for me–but for the gay community–gay people who live in small communities who are afraid to come out. The public display of that type of thing is offensive to me,” Pesall said. “Much like the uproar over tearing down war monuments the controversy over the confederate flag because they’re offensive. He says he was driven to burn the flag because of other protests he’s seen on social media. It was absolutely totally wrong,” Pesall said. “It shouldn’t have been done the way it was done. Pesall tells KELOLAND News he now regrets posting his actions on Facebook. Pesall: I burned a flag - not the flag that’s in question and what everyone is having such a s- show about. Pesall claims this isn’t Kriech’s flag at all. In addition with most crimes, it might be the cover up that is the most serious crime, and that is lying about aspects of the event,” Smeins said. Pesall - the crime might be the potential theft of the flag from someone else’s residence in town, as well as destruction of somebody else’s property. “The potential crime here is the actions of Mr. Smeins is considering other misdemeanor charges.
KELOLAND Investigates looked up the law, and found that the state’s law against malicious intimidation or harassment does not apply to sexual orientation, even though the South Dakota Attorney General’s website lists it as a hate crime. Especially it follows the equal protection clause–race, color, creed and nation of origin–but it doesn’t include gender,” Day County State’s Attorney Danny Smeins said. “South Dakota does not include gender protection under the hate crime statute. The Day County State’s attorney says while an investigation is underway into Pesall’s actions, under South Dakota law, it’s probably not a hate crime.
Kriech wants to see him charged with a hate crime. The man burning the Pride flag is also from Webster. “I was just disturbed, disgusted–especially coming from someone I know, that they would actually do something that hateful and disgusting,” Kriech said. “Your f- flag that deserves to burn, burn, burn, burn you queer sons of b-,” Darrin Pesall says in a Facebook Live video.
Never did he imagine it would end like this: But I thought, ‘You know what? Let’s just do it,'” Kriech said. “I thought, ‘Oh, I’ve never done this before.’ You know, it’s a small town. The site of the rainbow gay Pride flag flying in Sioux Falls typically doesn’t draw a lot of attention.īut when Troy Kriech decided to put one up in the small town of Webster, South Dakota, for June Pride Month, he knew he was taking a risk. Now the man who says it was his flag, wants to see charges in the case. (KELO) - A rural South Dakota man burned an LGBTQ flag while spouting obscenities about gay people on Facebook Live.