Woman suspected of burning 'Make America Gay Again' flag deemed unfit to stand trial

A New York City woman who is suspected of lighting a pride flag on fire and defacing two cop cars in February has been deemed unfit to stand trial.

In the early hours of February 20, Angelina Cando, 30, was riding as a passenger in a white vehicle that parked just outside the Little Prince restaurant in SoHo. After the vehicle came to a stop, Cando reportedly exited the vehicle and ran over to a pride flag, emblazoned with the message "Make America Gay Again," hanging outside the restaurant. She then allegedly took out a lighter and set the flag on fire. She quickly returned to the white vehicle, which then sped away.

Though no one was injured in the incident, which was caught on surveillance video, the fire did cause some exterior damage. The restaurant windows were broken, and some flowers on display were destroyed. The building itself also had to be evacuated while firefighters tended to the blaze, which irked some residents. "This is a really usually nice neighborhood where everybody respects each other," Stu Matz told reporters soon afterward, "and that's not something that should ever happen around here."

After burning the flag, Cando allegedly defaced two cop cars by scrawling the message "Jesus is king" on them. Investigators also believe that, earlier that evening, she had graffitied the Canal Street subway station with messages like "Jesus" and "suck d***." The following day, Cando was arrested and charged with arson, criminal mischief, and reckless endangerment, all as hate crimes.

On Tuesday, however, a Manhattan court ruled that Cando is mentally unfit to stand trial. She must appear in court again on May 9 after the district attorney reviews this decision. Until then, she will remain housed at the Rose M. Singer Center in Queens.

The flag-burning incident is not the only case pending against Cando. In January, Cando allegedly threw an object at a man and then cut him. Then a few weeks later but before the flag incident, Cando brandished a knife at employees at a local pizza shop, prosecutors claimed.

"False accusation," Cando yelled during a court appearance in February. "False accusation. They're all fake. ... Let me free! He is king!"

Her attorney later indicated that she was experiencing "some kind of psychotic breakdown" at the time. Cando did not have any inappropriate outbursts during the brief hearing on Tuesday.

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