TUSTIN – Would former Marine Sgt. Major Gary Truscott scream at me?
That was the question Tustin police Officer Tom Knostman nervously asked himself Tuesday afternoon as he hoisted an American flag that had been stolen hours earlier from a Bank of America in the 13300 block of Newport Avenue.
It was just a small gesture to return Old Glory to its rightful place atop a 25-foot tall steel flag pole outside the bank, but it had to be done properly, thought Knostman, a 44-year-old retired Marine rifleman.
That’s when the anxiety kicked in and the memories of guard duty at Camp Pendleton under the watchful eye of cantankerous Truscott flashed back.
“He was infamous because he had a booming voice,” Knostman recalled Wednesday. “He was known for sticking his head out of the window of buildings and screaming a lot at others for every minor protocol issue.”
But this time outside of the Bank of America there was no shouting.
As Knostman raised the flag, Tustin police Sgt. Sarah Fetterling and Cpl. Jeremy Laurich stood silently with their hands over their hearts and watched.
“It was an honor,” Fetterling said of the brief ceremony. “It’s not something we get to do every day.”
Police suspect that Eugene Laporte, 56, a transient with a rap sheet that spans more than 30 pages, stole the flag from a flagpole because of a dispute with the Bank of America, Knostman said.
Laporte was booked into the Orange County Jail for a parole violation stemming from the flag theft and is being held without bond.
He has other convictions for assault with a deadly weapon, first-degree robbery, brandishing a weapon, receiving stolen property and vandalism, according to court records.
Knostman first encountered Laporte, who was wearing a plaid shirt, orange T-shirt and black spandex biker shorts, while on patrol Tuesday morning at Larwin Square Shopping Center across the street from the Tustin Police Department.
Laporte wanted Knostman to go with him to the Bank of America and vouch for him so he could make a withdrawal because he didn’t have any identification, the officer recalled.
However, Knostman said he was unable to address Laporte’s request because police dispatchers sent him to another call in Tustin.
Then, a few minutes later, dispatchers notified Knostman that a man was causing a disturbance at a Starbucks at the shopping center.
Laporte apparently had approached a pair of Santa Ana police officers inside Starbucks, demanding that they accompany him to Bank of America. Employees told him to leave because he was acting strangely, Knostman said. The man wasn’t at Starbucks when Knostman arrived.
Then around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Knostman said he received a report of a man matching Laporte’s description who had been arguing with the branch manager at the Bank of America and then stole the flag from the flagpole.
“He felt the flag was not legitimate,” Knostman said.
He arrived at the bank but again missed Laporte who had moved to the Pineapple Hill Saloon & Grill in Larwin Square.
“He said something to the effect that he was related to Thomas Jefferson, threw the flag down and then left the premises,” Knostman said.
A few minutes after that incident at the saloon, police arrested Laporte in Larwin Square.
Tustin police Sgt. Del Pickney, himself a retired Marine corporal, scooped up the flag from the Pineapple Hill Saloon & Grill, quickly folded it and brought it to Knostman, who was still at the Bank of America.
Knostman, who spent four years in the Marines and rose to the rank of sergeant, hastily organized the flag raising ceremony.
“It’s nice to be able to return property to its rightful owners,” Knostman said. “It was doubly nice to recover the flag because represent the ideals we are sworn to protect.”
Pickney photographed the flag raising and posted the picture on the Tustin Police Department’s Facebook page.
“I respect what so many people have done to allow us to fly the flag so I felt a ceremony was appropriate,” he said.
Staff writer Louis Casiano Jr. contributed to this report.
