A grieving fiancé has spoken out after being arrested for "littering" after leaving flowers on his late partner's grave.
As reported by ABC News affiliate WTMV, Winchester Hagans tragically lost his fiancée Hannah Ford in January 2021 as a result of a car crash. Hannah's unexpected death came just one month after the couple got engaged.
"She was the love of my life - the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with," Hagans told WTMV.
Hagans, from Auburn, told the outlet that Hannah always preferred living flowers over cut flowers from a florist. Therefore, to honor this, Hagans built a planter box to leave on top of her grave.
He told WTMV: "Even though she is gone I promised her I would never bring her cut flowers again. She was the love of my life the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with."
The planter box was decorated with photos of the two of them and filled with her favorite flowers. Hagans then says he contacted the city to ask if was able to place the flower box on Hannah's grave.
In response, he was told that the people of the city "don’t enforce that unless a family member asked for it to be removed".
So, Hagans placed the planter atop his late fiancée's grave.
However, last month, Hagans says he was approached by a police officer.
Recalling the moment, he said: "The officer 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.'"
To Hagans' surprise, the arrest warrant was for "littering" and was signed by Hannah's father, Tom Ford. Hagans told WTMV that he was never contacted by Ford prior to his arrest.
On Instagram, Hagans revealed that prior to his arrest, the planter box had been "trashed" by somebody Hannah knew. He added that the person kept "throwing away the flowers" he planted, but insisted: "Each time he throws them away I’ll plant more."
Per WTMV, a determined Hagans said that he would build "a thousand flower boxes if he had to for the love of his life."
The station contacted Ford for a comment, but did not receive a response prior to the publishing of its article on the story.
"I just want to be able to put flowers by my fiancées grave," Hagans said.
WTMV reports that, per the City of Auburn's website, outside markers & flowers are permitted on graves, but they must meet the city’s specifications.
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