ORLANDO, Fla. — A protester says they were attacked outside the Pulse memorial Saturday after trying to stop a man from removing rainbow and transgender flags and throwing them into traffic.

Cait Aparicio was at Pulse that afternoon to protest the state’s controversial removal of the rainbow crosswalk outside the memorial last month.

Aparicio, who is non-binary, had protested outside Pulse before and was arrested there Aug. 31 on a charge of defacing a traffic device after drawing on the crosswalk with chalk, court records show.

“It’s erasure in the middle of the night without notifying anybody or anything like that…is a clear sign of the future, and I’ve decided to draw my line here at this crosswalk,” Aparicio said Wednesday. “I’m putting down messages of love.”

While protesting at Pulse last week, Aparicio said a man slowly drove by the memorial on three occasions and honked his horn to get the attention of protesters before yelling slurs at them and saying they “should all die.”

On Saturday afternoon, while Aparicio and others were at the Dunkin’ Donuts next door, they said they saw the man park a Tesla next to the memorial on Esther Street and walk towards the flags planted by the roadside. The man then allegedly pulled a rainbow flag and a transgender flag out of the ground and threw them into traffic before saying something like “Go get your flags [expletive].”

Aparicio said they chased the man to his car and tried to block him from entering it so they could call police. They retrieved one of the two flags he had thrown and pushed it between the man and his car, but the man ducked under the flag, ripped it from their hands and began hitting them.

They also noted there was a woman in the car with the man who exited the vehicle and appeared to be recording. Other witnesses told Aparicio she shouted slurs with the man.

The end of the incident was captured on video by two separate witnesses.

One video, taken from inside the Dunkin’ Donuts, begins with Aparicio on the ground. The unidentified man can be seen punching Aparicio once while they are on the ground before kicking them in the face when they attempt to get up. The other video, taken from across Orange Avenue, shows Aparicio get up as the man drives away.

Orlando police responded to the scene and took photos, looked for DNA and collected the two thrown flags as evidence, Aparicio said. They said police told them Wednesday that there was no update as to whether any arrests had been made and that the department would contact them when it had one.

Aparicio said Wednesday they are concerned that there hasn’t been an arrest in the case.

“I really feel like the longer he goes un-arrested, the more bold he’s gonna become, and he’s already said we should all die,” they said. “…I feel like the delay in the investigation is giving way to people to feel like the cops don’t care and that they can do whatever they want.”

The Orlando Police Department did not respond to requests for comment.

Aparicio worries that the man may return when there is less law enforcement attention on him. But they plan to continue protesting at Pulse and continued to draw with chalk on the memorial’s sidewalk Wednesday.

“I’m not afraid of him. I’m not. The whole point is to make us afraid,” they said, “and I’m not gonna let someone else tell me how to feel.”

________

©2025 Orlando Sentinel. Visit at orlandosentinel.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.