Carl Lund said, "It was just wrong."
Lund, a local businessman who grew up in Northborough and now lives in Shrewsbury, may face charges for kicking over and damaging an anti-Obama display set up last week in Northborough. The display included pictures of President Barack Obama with an Adolf Hitler-style mustache.
"I am a veteran and American citizen and will not tolerate someone portraying the President of the United States as Adolf Hitler," Lund told police. "This is why I did this."
Police had responded to the scene shortly after 4 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 6, when on the sidewalk in front of Bank of America, two men had set up the anti-Obama display. Ian Brinkley and Jared Caskill, who called police, reported that Lund approached them and began yelling at them for having signs viewable to the public.
"They reported that they had paperwork on the table and were voicing their opinion about the President of the United States," said police.
Brinkley and Caskill said that Lund approached the table and threw it into the street, causing damage to the table and most of the materials that were on it. They reported the damages at more than $50, and said they would be willing to go to court on the matter, according to police.
Lund, who is the president of Heritage Home Carpentry in Shrewbury, told Patch, "I grew up on Lincoln Street in Northborough, and I've lived in Shrewsbury for 40 years. I'm real local, and I'm a veteran, and this was just the wrong thing to be doing. I know there are no laws against it, but you just don't depict the president as Hitler."
Driving by earlier in the day, Lund said he saw the display set up, and when he saw the men still there later on, his anger got the best of him and he pulled over.
"Part of being a citizen is patriotism," he said. "If you are willing to defend your country, you have to take a stand. There was something there was just wrong."
Lund added that he went to Bill's Barber Shop after the incident, and that there were "a couple of other veterans in there that were very upset."
"On top of it, you've got the Bank of America sign right there," he said. "And they picked Pearl Harbor Day of all days. It was just deplorable. They were college students or something. They were young. I was just burned up, and I kicked their stuff over and wouldn't let them pick it up until the cops came."
Lund was told by police that he could be charged with malicious destruction of property under $250 and would receive paperwork in the mail from the court in the coming weeks.
"Whatever happens happens," said Lund. "They haven't called me yet and I don't know if they will do anything. There were no threats made, but I told them if they were back, I'd be back. Otherwise maybe there would have been a second offense. I did go online, and apparently there is no law about defacing the face of the president. So that's that. It was all over in 20 minutes."