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Transient arrested for burning a confederate flag in Oceano

April 1, 2018

Mitchell Joseph Davis

A 20-year-old transient from Seattle is in jail after he allegedly set a confederate flag on fire in Oceano on Friday, according to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office. [Cal Coast Times]

The suspect ran away and managed to evade capture for a day. But deputies tracked him down and arrested him on multiple charges, including arson and a civil rights violation.

At about 6:20 p.m. Friday, Mitchell Joseph Davis allegedly set a confederate flag on fire in the parking lot of a restaurant at 649 Pier Avenue in Oceano. The flag belonged to a Grover Beach woman, and it was attached to the rear of her pickup truck.

Witnesses said they saw a person light the corner of the flag on fire and then flee the area on foot. The Grover Beach woman was inside the restaurant at the time, according to the sheriff’s office.

Another customer at the restaurant put out the blaze using a pitcher of water.

After deputies initially failed to find the suspect, investigators reviewed surveillance footage and managed to produce a description of the man. At about 5 p.m. Saturday, deputies spotted a person matching the description of the suspect walking in the area of Pier Avenue in Oceano.

Deputies detained Davis and arrested him on charges of arson, resisting arrest, giving false identification to a peace officer and a civil rights violation. Authorities booked Davis into the SLO County Jail, where he remains with his bail set at $20,000.


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Play stupid games win stupid prizes, like having your property destroyed or going to jail for a dumb stunt.


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Whatever happened to “I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”? We’ve really lost something here in the USA…


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If an individual wants to display the Confederate Flag, that for the most part stood for promoting slavery, and that is vouchsafed within the Christian bible ad infinitum in owning, beating, and selling slaves, especially women slaves, then they have to accept the consequences whether it’s lawful or not to have it removed from their possession.


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This is totally absurd. If this guy stole the flag he is guilty of a misdemeanor. But it is NOT illegal to burn the confederate flag. It is not illegal to burn the American flag. They are elements of protected speech per a Supreme Court decision. Ever hear of the 1st amendment? At least he was speaking out against a symbol of a despicable period in our country’s history.


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Hey genius, it’s illegal to burn someone elses property. Free speech doesn’t give you the right to destroy things that don’t belong to you.


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Just strap him in chair for 46 hours. Ian would love it. Three cheers for Bullies with Badges, the

KKK, the Nazis! The tourists would love to know how

happy “Happy Happy City” really is!


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This dumb looking freeloader needs to spend 60 days in Ian’s house then put on a bus back to Seattle.


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I don’t know, Ian’s house is becoming like those old roach motel commercials. The roaches check in, but they don’t check out.


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RE: Confederate flag: “The battle flag was never adopted by the Confederate Congress, never flew over any state capitols during the Confederacy, and was never officially used by Confederate veterans’ groups. The flag probably would have been relegated to Civil War museums if it had not been resurrected by the resurgent KKK and used by Southern Dixiecrats during the 1948 presidential election.[31]


Southern historian Gordon Rhea further wrote in 2011 that:


It is no accident that Confederate symbols have been the mainstay of white supremacist organizations, from the Ku Klux Klan to the skinheads. They did not appropriate the Confederate battle flag simply because it was pretty. They picked it because it was the flag of a nation dedicated to their ideals: ‘that the negro is not equal to the white man’. The Confederate flag, we are told, represents heritage, not hate. But why should we celebrate a heritage grounded in hate, a heritage whose self-avowed reason for existence was the exploitation and debasement of a sizeable segment of its population?[32]”


Now I need to finish cleaning my shotgun, literally.


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Who cares! Dumb rednecks like it because the Dukes of hazard car was painted with it. You can’t light a fire to someone’s property.


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Umm do I have to ask the obvious? What is anyone in Grover Beach doing with a Confederate flag dangling off their truck? Kiddo shouldn’t have lit it up on fire, but I might have snatched it and thrown it in garbage. Civil Rights violation- ? Please don’t get me started!


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You would steal someone else’s property because you disagree with it? I too am no fan of the confederate flag, but it is protected speech and if some redneck wants to fly it from their 4 wheeler or pick up truck, it is not ok to destroy it or steal it. You see the confederate flag as a symbol of a racist south. Others may see it as an honor to their fallen ancestors, and still others see it as a symbol of 4 wheel drive rednecks. Leave it alone, it’s not for u to decide its meaning.


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That’s EXACTLY how it should be handled. You poor little SJW’s attempting to rewrite history to fit your political agenda.


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So in your opinion it would be alright for someone to steal your rainbow gay rights flag and destroy it. Funny how liberals only think their free speech is protected. Whether you agree with the flag or not – it is the owners property and his 1st amendment right fly it.


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Liberal, shimeral. Nice inane name calling. You may have forgotten, or maybe never knew, that stars and bars were trotted out for murderous ceremonies like lynchings, are a symbol of hatred and malice. A rainbow flag is, on the other hand, a symbol of pride and happiness. Big difference between the two. It’s your opinion flyer has a first amendment right to do so. Really? No such right to scream fire in a theater. There are limits, we can legitimately debate where they lie. But wherever they lie, it’s just mean, provocative, and ornery to fly the stars and bars, and treating their rag accordingly is ok by me.


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You can’t yell fire in a public theater (per supreme ct 1919) because that speech could be the cause of panic and hysteria resulting in injury. Of course, if there is a fire in a theater, you can yell fire in a crowded theater.

Are peoples emotions and sensibilities so fragile that one cannot fly a flag that is offensive to others. The rainbow flag used by madmaxx is a great example as, like the confederate flag, there are people who hate that flag and it causes them anger. Is that your litmus test for banning speech? scary.


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