Ex-Veteran And Ex-Playboy Model Taken Into Custody For Taking American Flag That Was Being Stomped On During Protest

ABC Breaking US News | US News Videos

ABC News- A veteran-turned-Playboy model was detained after an altercation on a college campus when she tried to take an American flag away from a group of protesters who had been stomping on it.

The group of three protesters was not a registered student group a school spokesman told ABC News that only two of them have been confirmed as students. The specific point of their protest was not explicitly clear, but Andy Clark, the vice president of the school’s communications department told ABC News that “it was around race, race relations” and that the protesters were reciting some Malcolm X readings.

Clark confirmed that the students did not have permits that are normally required for protests on campus, but added that “we have a procedure but for the most part… the university errs on the side of the First Amendment.”

When the married mother-of-two arrived on campus this past Friday, she saw campus police -- who she said did not intervene -- standing about 25 feet away from the protesters. Once they started stomping on the flag, Manhart said that's when she decided to get involved and picked up the flag.

"I'm all about the First Amendment and I’m all about people speaking, but I don’t understand how people are able to desecrate the one iconic emblem that allows them to have it," she told ABC News.




​Are we reaching the point where the high salary and benefits of early retirement aren't enough to persuade people to become police officers? I mean, talk about a lose-lose situation here. These cops arrested a military veteran, who also happens to be a semi-attractive ex-PlayBoy model, for picking up an American flag that was being walked all over and somehow I think they made the right decision. What was the alternative? Getting into an altercation with a disgruntled group of African Americans and thus proving their entire point for them? Rock meet hard place.

I would have to imagine cops are trying to valiantly to clean up an image that has been tarnished by the prejudice of officers before them. Breaking up an anti-American/anti-officer rally may seem like the noble thing to do as a citizen and protector of this country, but it's certainly not going to win over any critics of law enforcement. Almost had to arrest the only person whose intentions were pure. If I was those cops I would have been mighty close to a "fuck this shit, I'm going home". No way I can sit here and say that Michele Manhart didn't do the right thing. Anytime you treat the symbol of this fair country like a doormat you are in the wrong. It's sad that the actions of a few cops are starting to have a direct impact on the actions of the moral majority. I mean, at least a portion of detaining her was to appease the large group of black men that had felt slighted even before their flag was taken away. And really, no one is going to be happy. Manhart still feels as though she acted within her rights, and this radical anti-law enforcement group is still wondering why she wasn't pelted with bullets while resisting arrest. It's a shame that there are so many outlying factors surrounding law enforcement. An arrest shouldn't be a political process that's determined by anything other than the situation at hand. I, for one, do not envy the responsibilities of police officers these days.

P.S.  God.Bless.America.