Flags on I-77 bridge Friday will honor 9/11 memory; Fort Mill cops to provide security
American flags will wave from an Interstate 77 bridge Friday in York County on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, as has happened every year at that site since the terrorist attacks.
Yet this year, Fort Mill police said officers will be present to ensure safety because of an incident in late August when shots were fired near Donald Trump supporters. No one was hurt.
The bridge is on Sutton Road at Exit 83 in Fort Mill and spans I-77. Flag waving is expected from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
“We plan to be there with a uniformed presence to ensure the safety of everyone involved,” said Fort Mill Police Maj. Bryan Zachary. “We know that this bridge in past years has drawn a lot of people who want to take part on 9/11, so we want all to be safe.”
On Aug. 24, people supporting President Donald Trump were on the bridge when someone reported shots being fired. A S.C. Highway Patrol trooper was on scene and heard the shots, police said. A suspect from Charlotte was arrested later that day and charged with assault and weapons violations, according to police and court records.
The flag waving Friday is planned to be only American Flags , said organizers from the Rolling Thunder group. The group wants no political flags or political action, said Al Guest of Rolling Thunder.
“This is not political, this is patriotic,” said Guest, a Vietnam War combat veteran.
Rolling Thunder is a nationwide veterans and prisoner of war/missing in action advocacy group. Its Rock Hill chapter has organized 9/11 flag events on the bridge over I-77 for several years.
The 9/11 tradition on the Sutton Road bridge started in 2001 when Rock Hill’s Leonard Farrington took a flag from home and waved it from the bridge. Farrington, a World War II military veteran, waved his American flag from the bridge in successive years on 9/11. He died in 2012. In 2013, the bridge was ceremonially named in honor of Farrington by the S.C. General Assembly.
Rolling Thunder and others have continued Farrington’s 9/11 tradition.
