ORLANDO, Fla. - A second man has been arrested in connection to a June 10th incident in which neo-Nazi banners were hung off an I-4 overpass near Orlando. 36-year-old Anthony Altick was taken into custody by the Alachua County Sheriff's Office on Sunday, after a warrant for his arrest was issued by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE).
Altick has been charged with criminal mischief for his alleged actions, in which a series of banners were hung from the Daryl Carter Parkway Bridge with hate messages and swastikas. One large sign had the message 'Vax the Jews' with a tag for an online Nazi forum.
Now, along with fellow suspect Jason Brown, Altick is charged under a recently-passed state law which gives law enforcement greater authority to deter hate messages displayed in public. Volusia County was itself the setting to this activity earlier in 2023, when neo-Nazis projected anti-Semitic messaging on the side of Daytona International Speedway during the Daytona 500. Sheriff Mike Chitwood attracted international attention when he railed against these demonstrators, and several individuals were arrested for making retaliatory death threats against him.
Similar demonstrations have also been held in recent months at the entrance to nearby Walt Disney World, where masked individuals flew flags with varying neo-Nazi messages. Swastikas and Confederate flags were at times accompanied by flags endorsing Governor Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign, an act which DeSantis has mostly avoided commenting on.
It comes with irony that a law recently signed by DeSantis himself has now put two such protestors in custody with criminal charges.
