A FORMER police officer took on his homeowner’s association after being asked to remove his Thin Blue Line first responders flag.

Chris Castrogiovanni from Union County, North Carolina, has been battling his HOA since June.

Under the rules of the association, the majority of flags were banned and after proudly flying his flag for 10 years he was asked to remove it.

The retired NYPD officer who responded on 9/11 used his flag to honor those lost and fought for his right to fly it.

“During 9/11 I attended 26 funerals three of which were personal friends of mine that I actually had tattooed on my arm,” he told WSOC-TV.

“There’s a thin blue line between anarchy and civility and every time a cop is killed, that line gets thinner.

“I’ve lost quite a few friends over my 34 years, but 9/11 in particular, I lost three close friends.

“I went to 29 funerals and every day cops have been killed in this country.”

He added: “For you to tell me that I can fly it for 10 years and then take it away from me to honor my brothers and sisters. It was a kick in the gut to be quite honest with you.

“They did it to fire, EMS, not just me. So, I just represent one piece of first responders.”

“I’m a dog with a frisbee normally, so I usually don’t let go,” he said.

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Fellow resident Jennifer Connor started supporting him with rallies and even contacted her friend State Representative David Willis to help out.

She told the news outlet: “I said ‘David, I want you to help me write a bill. I am angry and I’m not letting this go.’ And David said: ‘Jen, it’s actually already written’.”

The bill which became law on October 25 protects flags of various military branches and first responders and it makes it nearly impossible for HOAs to ban them.

Willis explained: “It doesn’t say that the HOAs cannot eliminate [the flags] or restrict them altogether, but it has to be very specific on the language, and they have to call it out very specifically by branch of armed services and so forth.

“So, they have to be very open and upfront about their desire to restrict those flags from the HOA.”

However, for now, the bill only applies to Union County residents and HOAs.

After the bill was passed Castrogiovanni received a surprise call from Willis who told him “Go hang your flag up, it passed.”

“I was very grateful,” the former NYPD officer said adding that others in the street have also put the flag up

“You have a first amendment for a reason,” he said.

“There are times where common sense seems to miss the mark, this is one of those cases,” Willis told the outlet during a phone call.

“We got involved and did what we needed to do especially for Union County.

“I suspect if this is something that continues or there are other instances of this happening across the state, that other folks will act to expand it into other communities as well.”