DORCHESTER, MASS. (WHDH) - Shock turned into disbelief for the president of the Dorchester Polish American Club when she saw surveillance video of a man bending the flag pole to the ground and then ripping off the American flag.

The video shows the man hop a small brick wall and stride into Pulaski Park, walk up to the flag pole, and 7 seconds later, tears the flag off the pole and takes off with it.

“I was like…I couldn’t even move, because I was so hurt,” Stasia Kacprzak said. “Why would anyone do that?”

Club treasurer Peter Dziedzic said he raised the money to install the American and Polish flags about 5 years ago to spruce up the state park.

“Is it a political statement? Is it just out of anger? Is it random? I don’t know,” he said. “That is the weirdest part is trying to understand why this happened because it really doesn’t make any sense.”

Kacprzak said she hopes the act is just a case of vandalism and not anti-American hate.

“I hope they get help. The American flag means a lot to everyone, to the United State, to me, my son was a US Marine and the flag meant everything to him” she said. “It’s very hurtful.”

The club has a GoFundMe page to raise money to repair the flagpole and damage that was done to their roof during the intense summer storms.

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