A video of an older white man verbally harassing a young woman for wearing a shirt of the Puerto Rican flag has gone viral on social media that sparked backlash and calls for a police officer to be fired for not intervening. The viral footage was captured on Facebook Love last month and even drew the attention of Puerto Rico’s governor. An officer arrived at the scene, the woman asked him to intervene, but the officer did nothing.

The video was shot by 24-year-old Mia Irizarry in a covered public bench area in a park in Chicago which shows a man repeatedly harassing her about her shirt. He slams her for wearing a Puerto Rico flag shirt and tells her that ‘if you’re an American citizen, you should not be wearing that shirt in America’. Reports identify that man as 62-year-old Timothy Trybus.

Man Caught on Video Harassing Woman for Wearing Puerto Rica Flag Shirt

Man asks the woman if she is an American citizen, to which she replies yes. “Then you should not be wearing that. You should be wearing United States of America flag,” he said. An officer from the Forest Preserves arrived, but the video shows he didn’t intervene, even as the man invaded Irizarry’s personal space and continued to harass her. At one point, Irizarry is even heard telling the police officer that she is feeling ‘uncomfortable’ but the officer does nothing. “As you can see, the police are not even – he’s not even grabbing him,” Irizarry is heard saying in the video.

Mia was waiting for her family at a picnic area in the Forest Preserves of Cook County to celebrate her 24th birthday. In the 36-minute video, more park officers arrive at scene and finally sit the man down and ask for his ID. A female officer can be heard saying that he’s intoxicated. “You don’t come here harassing people,” the officer says. “People have just as much right to be here as you do, and when you’re drunk you don’t belong here.”

On Monday, Forest Preserves of Cook County tweeted that it was aware of the June 14 incident and video. “After the incident, we immediately launched an investigation pursuant to our personnel policies into the response of our officer,” one of the tweets read. The officer resigned Wednesday, the forest agency said. The investigation into the incident continues, the agency said.

Timothy Trybus, the reportedly intoxicated individual involved in the incident was arrested and charged with assault and disorderly conduct, according to a police report. Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello saw the video and condemned it. “I am appalled, shocked and disturbed by the officer’s behaviour,” Rossello tweeted. “The United States of America is a nation that was built and thrives on diversity. We cannot allow those who do not understand America’s greatness to terrorize people because of their background. This is not the America we all believe in.”

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 12, 2018 12:14 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).