I was arrested for leaving a handmade flower box at my late fiancee’s grave – after her DAD reported me for littering
A HEARTBROKEN man was arrested for leaving a handmade flower box at his dead fiancee’s grave – after her DAD reported him for littering.
Hannah Leigh Ford, 27, was killed in a road accident in January 2021, just one month after Winston Hagans popped the question and the couple became engaged.
Hagans, from Auburn, Alabama, built a flower box to place at his fiancee’s grave because he says she preferred planted flowers to cut flowers.
However, he was stunned to learn that he was under arrest for littering after the dead woman’s father Tom Ford, reportedly signed his arrest warrant.
Hagans now faces charges of criminal littering for leaving his handmade flower box at the grave.
He told WTVM News that he was in his car when a cop came over and said “hey Mr Hagans, can you step out of the car, there is a warrant for your arrest’; I said ‘no, that’s impossible, there’s no way’.
“I just want to be able to put flowers by my fiancee’s grave.”
Explaining why he built the flower box, Hagans said: “Even though she is gone, I promised her I would never bring her cut flowers again.”
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He added: “She was the love of my life, the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.”
WTVM said the dead woman’s father signed the arrest warrant and is behind the apparently petty criminal procedure.
Hagans said he was not contacted by Ford before being arrested and has been left confused by the ordeal.
He said the authorities told him the flower box technical violates local laws – but they are rarely enforced unless specifically requested by the deceased’s family.
Ford and the local police have yet to make a public statement on the littering charge.