Surveillance video shows man cutting down American, Pride flags in East Bay

RODEO, Calif. - The Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office is investigating after a man was seen on video cutting down a Pride flag and an American flag. 

Chris Miller, the superintendent of John Swett Unified School District, told KTVU on Monday that he found the flags on the ground when he arrived to work on Park Avenue in Rodeo.

At first, he thought the rope broke, but after taking a closer look, he realized the rope had been cut.

He checked surveillance video and was disheartened to see someone did it deliberately.

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"This was an intentional act," Miller said. "I watched this individual on videotape, we can all see it. He's not pulling down the American flag, he's pulling down the Pride flag and that's a hate crime."

Defacing a symbol that's important to the LGBTQ community is "intolerance. It's bigotry. It's prejudice and that's against everything that we stand for as a district," Miller said. "It's not what we teach. It's not who we are.  So we're going to show our students and our community that we're not going to let this stand. "

John Swett Unified serves more than 1,200 students from the communities of Rodeo, Hercules, Crockett and Port Costa.