- Sep 15, 2000
- 7,073
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NEW HAVEN, Conn. ? Three Yale University students have been arrested on charges of setting fire to an American flag hanging from the porch of a Chapel Street home.
The three were arrested early Tuesday after police on patrol spotted the burning flag and tore it from pole where it was mounted to the house, police said.
Said Hyder Akbar, 23, Nikolaos Angelopoulos, 19, and Farhad Anklesaria, also 19, were arrested on charges ranging from reckless endangerment to arson.
Angelopoulos and Anklesaria, who are two freshmen are both foreign citizens. Anklesaria is British and Angelopoulos is Greek.
Akbar, a senior, was born in Pakistan, according to police, but is a U.S. citizen. Both Anklesaria and Angelopoulos had to turn over their passports.
Akbar worked as an informal translator for U.S. forces during the invasion of Afghanistan and later published a memoir, "Come Back to Afghanistan," based on his experiences there, the Yale Daily News reported Wednesday.
At their arraignment in Superior Court a few hours after their arrests Tuesday, bond was kept at $25,000 for Angelopoulos and Akbar, but was reduced to $15,000 for Anklesaria. They remained jailed Tuesday night.
Police said the students had two encounters with officers.
Officers Stephanija Van Wilgen and Diane Gonzalez were responding to an unrelated call Haven at about 3 a.m. and were flagged down by the students who asked for directions.
A short time later, the two officers returned to Chapel Street to see if the students had found their way home and spotted the burning flag.
"There was a glow in front of the house which they identified as a flag mounted on a pole to the house and it was engulfed in flames," police spokeswoman Bonnie Posick said.
Van Wilgen pulled down the burning flag to prevent the fire from spreading and Gonzalez tracked down the three men.
NEW HAVEN, Conn. ? Three Yale University students have been arrested on charges of setting fire to an American flag hanging from the porch of a Chapel Street home.
The three were arrested early Tuesday after police on patrol spotted the burning flag and tore it from pole where it was mounted to the house, police said.
Said Hyder Akbar, 23, Nikolaos Angelopoulos, 19, and Farhad Anklesaria, also 19, were arrested on charges ranging from reckless endangerment to arson.
Angelopoulos and Anklesaria, who are two freshmen are both foreign citizens. Anklesaria is British and Angelopoulos is Greek.
Akbar, a senior, was born in Pakistan, according to police, but is a U.S. citizen. Both Anklesaria and Angelopoulos had to turn over their passports.
Akbar worked as an informal translator for U.S. forces during the invasion of Afghanistan and later published a memoir, "Come Back to Afghanistan," based on his experiences there, the Yale Daily News reported Wednesday.
At their arraignment in Superior Court a few hours after their arrests Tuesday, bond was kept at $25,000 for Angelopoulos and Akbar, but was reduced to $15,000 for Anklesaria. They remained jailed Tuesday night.
Police said the students had two encounters with officers.
Officers Stephanija Van Wilgen and Diane Gonzalez were responding to an unrelated call Haven at about 3 a.m. and were flagged down by the students who asked for directions.
A short time later, the two officers returned to Chapel Street to see if the students had found their way home and spotted the burning flag.
"There was a glow in front of the house which they identified as a flag mounted on a pole to the house and it was engulfed in flames," police spokeswoman Bonnie Posick said.
Van Wilgen pulled down the burning flag to prevent the fire from spreading and Gonzalez tracked down the three men.
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