Man accused of trying to steal Florida flag outside Tropicana Field

ST. PETERSBURG — A man is accused of trying to steal the state flag as it flew outside Tropicana Field.

But that wasn't the flag that David James Willis said he wanted to steal, according to St. Petersburg police.

Willis told police he thought he was taking the Marine Corps flag — that flag is scarlet with the corps' gray-and-gold emblem in the center — that flew outside Gate 4. Florida's state flag is white with a red diagonal cross dotted by the state seal.

Willis told police he was an Army veteran and didn't think much of the Marine Corps' performance in past wars. That's why he wanted to take the flag, he told police.

"This guy's not a good historian," said St. Petersburg police spokesman Mike Puetz.

Willis, 49, had been drinking, police said.

The incident happened about 2:25 p.m. Tuesday when a Tropicana security guard tried to shoo Willis away because she said he was drinking beer from a bench outside the stadium, according to police.

Then the security guard heard the sound of the flag pole's panel hitting the ground.

The guard said she saw Willis reach into the pole's mechanism to lower the flag, police said, so she grabbed him and pulled him away until officers arrived.

Willis was arrested on a felony charge of grand theft. He was being held in the Pinellas County Jail Wednesday in lieu of $5,000 bail. Police could not confirm whether he actually served in the Army.