DUMONT — A rainbow LGBTQ Pride flag was torn down from its display twice last weekend, but public officials are saying it was not a hate crime.

Borough Administrator Tom Richards confirmed a Facebook post by Councilman Andrew LaBruno last Friday that described how the flag was removed from the front of the municipal building on Friday morning around 10 a.m. It was found a few hours later by a borough employee behind Borough Hall on West Madison Avenue, in an area where trash is kept.

Richards said the flag was replaced and secured better.

He said no one working in Borough Hall saw when the flag was taken down. There are no surveillance cameras around the building.

But on Sunday around 11:50 a.m., the flag was taken down again. This time, Richards said there was an eyewitness who contacted police.

Dumont Police Chief Michael Conner said the local man who apparently took the flag down Sunday was caught three blocks away. He may have been responsible for taking down the flag on Friday as well.

Conner said the man did not give a reason for taking the flag down, and he was not charged with any crime, as it would be up to the borough to press charges

Richards said after speaking to police and council members, he learned the man had the "mental capacity of a 10-year-old" and didn't understand his actions.

“It’s a terrible thing, but how am I going to get upset with a person who doesn’t understand the situation?” Richards said.

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The flag was re-secured in place on Monday morning.

LaBruno said the borough raised the flag after he wrote a letter to Mayor James Kelly and the Borough Council this month asking for their support to do this "for the LGBT community in Dumont and in the county." He said if the flag is taken down again, there’s a possibility it would be raised on a flagpole in Veterans Memorial Park.

Email: kaulessar@northjersey.com