A man was arrested in Ohio after punching a 61-year-old protester in the head repeatedly outside a Trump rally.
Dallas Frazier, 29, was captured on video getting out of a pickup truck before gearing up to punch the protester, Mike Alter, outside U.S. Bank Arena as the president held a rally inside yesterday (August 1).
The footage was quickly shared on social media by a fellow anti-Trump protester, who witnessed the altercation and captured the moment Frazier got violent with Alter.
You can watch the shocking video below:
As reported by WCPO-TV, 61-year-old Alter claimed the protest against Trump’s campaign visit to Cincinnati had been peaceful until Frazier arrived.
Alter said he had been standing on one side of the street outside U.S. Bank Arena with a group of other protesters, occasionally exchanging chants and shouts with Trump supporters on their way to the rally.
Then, the red pickup truck drove past the protesters and Frazier allegedly began shouting at the protesters from the passenger seat.
Alter said:
These guys pulled up in the pickup truck, everyone was yelling back and forth at them.
According to police documents obtained by the TV station, the ‘suspect exited the vehicle, stated ‘you want some,’ then struck the victim multiple times in the face’.
The video circulated online shows Frazier climbing out of the vehicle, taking off his hat and speaking to the 61-year-old, who can be seen holding his own hat and gesturing at the man.
Alter told WCPO-TV he was more ‘questioning’ Frazier, rather than trying to provoke the man. ‘Like really you want to fight?’, he claimed to have meant.
It’s at this point Frazier hits Alter three times as onlookers gasp in horror, before another protester pushes him away and police force his arms behind his back.
Alter said:
[I thought] ‘What the hell?’ He started just whaling on my head. I didn’t go down, for what that’s worth.
The 61-year-old said this was the first protest he had ever attended, although he had been to political events before as a supporter of Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.
Frazier was arrested for assault, with police spokesperson Lt. Steve Saunders saying yesterday evening the suspect was being booked at the Hamilton County Justice Center, as per Cincinnati.com.
Frazier, of Georgetown, Kentucky, has since been charged with misdemeanor assault. According to Lt. Saunders, Frazier was the only person arrested that night in relation to the Trump rally.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).