Red Wings fan arrested at Game 7 after setting giant Lightning flag on fire: Police
Lena Sinishtaj, 35, of Sterling Heights, Michigan, was arrested on an arson charge at Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay during Game 7 between the Lightning and the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night, according to jail records obtained by TBO.com.
Details of the arrest haven’t been released by police yet, but according to TBO.com she was booked at the Hillsborough County Jail on a charge of first-degree arson of an occupied structure.
Say, Amalie Arena is an occupied structure …
She was arrested at 7:45 p.m., which was right as Game 7 was getting underway.
What did she do? There were reports on social media last night that she attempted to light the large Tampa Bay Lightning flag on fire as it was passed around the crowd during pregame festivities.
On Thursday morning, WFLA confirmed that detail:
Tampa Police say Lena Sinishtaj allegedly lit a large Tampa Bay Lightning flag on fire during the final game against the Detroit Red Wings and passed it around the crowd at the Amalie Arena. Sinishtaj is from Sterling Heights, about 30 minutes outside Detroit.
Police say there were approximately 200 people under the flag at the time of the offense. The flag was only slightly burned.
Sinishtaj’s Twitter feed (WARNING: NSFW image at the top) chronicled her trip to Tampa Bay for Game 7, including that she stayed at the same Hilton Hotel as the Red Wings players.
There was a video of Sinishtaj getting a jersey signed by Danny DeKeyser of the Wings, presumably at the hotel. She also seemed rather excited about being an enemy fan in Tampa:
We’ll have more on the arrest when it’s announced by police.
