The Daily Populous Wednesday November 27th, 2024 day edition
Authored by dispatch.com and submitted by OnweirdUpweird

A group of neo-Nazis who marched through the Short North this month were not arrested because police determined they were not the aggressors in a fight that broke out, according to documents and video footage.

In body camera footage Columbus police released Monday, the neo-Nazis told police they had never experienced a response like the one they received in Columbus. They said people pulled guns on them and threw cans and vegetables as they marched, waved flags and yelled racial slurs. One of the officers noted the men were “covered in” pepper spray.

The Nov. 16 march drew stern condemnation from city hall to the White House, but no arrests were made. A group of Black men organized a counter-march the next day, following the same route in the Short North with a message of peace. In a statement, Columbus police previously said they could not find sufficient probable cause to file any charges against the neo-Nazis.

Police initially made contact with the neo-Nazis in a chaotic scene on a sidewalk near Goodale Park at about 1:15 p.m., according to a radio log printout from Columbus police. There the neo-Nazis, wearing black and red clothing and carrying black flags with red swastikas, told police they were leaving because they were under attack. In the background, bystanders shouted at them to take off their masks.

They told police they were marching because "our country is being invaded and white people are being ostracized." While they refused to tell police where they lived, they referenced past marches in other cities.

Police said they'd received a report that they were spraying people with pepper spray and hair spray. The neo-Nazis said they were pepper sprayed first, and hadn't instigated any violence. Footage previously obtained by the Dispatch showed one of the neo-Nazis spraying something in a person's face, and 911 callers said the neo-Nazis had pepper sprayed people.

Several officers, including multiple Black officers, were present at the scene on the sidewalk. One Black officer tried to reason with the marchers, pointing out that they were bound to see confrontation from people for shouting hateful things.

"I definitely feel your First Amendment rights to say whatever nonsense this is, but c'mon, man," the officer said. "The Buckeyes are playing. Man, come on."

According to police records and video, officers followed the neo-Nazis to the Goodale Park parking lot, where they loaded themselves into a U-Haul with an Arizona license plate to leave town. Officers pulled the U-Haul over to continue investigating the assault report.

All the neo-Nazis initially refused to provide identification, the footage shows. The driver, identified on the police report as a known white supremacist provided a Louisiana driver's license when police explained that he legally had to. The neo-Nazis in the back of the U-Haul said they had no identification and refused to provide their names or say where they were from.

In June 2023, the man was charged with criminal mischief for an incident in which several people hung swastikas and other antisemitic banners from a bridge in Orlando.

The neo-Nazis repeatedly asserted their First Amendment rights and accused police of detaining them for “saying words.” They complained about being told to keep their hands above their heads, saying they were losing circulation. One complained that he had to use the bathroom.

One neo-Nazi carrying a long, fixed-blade knife at his hip was placed into the back of a police cruiser after police said his hands were too close to the knife. Another was armed with a gun. The driver was armed with pepper spray, officers said.

While the neo-Nazis were detained, police spoke on the phone to a witness to the confrontation. She said she was driving by when the incident happened, and she saw the neo-Nazis approach a pair of Black men, telling them to "bow down" and calling them slurs.

The witness said someone tried to rip a flag out of the neo-Nazis hands, and a fight ensued. Her account of events matched what the neo-Nazis had told police, officers said in the footage, so they released the man armed with a knife from the backseat of the cruiser and told the neo-Nazis they were free to go.

A police report identified the group as "Hate Club 1844." The driver is the only neo-Nazi named in the report. The others are identified only as about 10-11 unknown white men.

“We do this all over the U.S., and we’ve never been attacked like this, man,” the driver told police from his seat in the U-Haul.

Roriborialus on November 26th, 2024 at 23:14 UTC »

I hope everywhere they go they elicit the same response. They deserve no protection.

warfarin11 on November 26th, 2024 at 23:01 UTC »

"I definitely feel your First Amendment rights to say whatever nonsense this is, but c'mon, man," the officer said. "The Buckeyes are playing. Man, come on."

In Japan, one way to piss everyone off and unify people against you is to fuck with the public transportation. In Columbus, Ohio apparently it is to nazi march during the Buck's game.

SeashellChimes on November 26th, 2024 at 22:51 UTC »

"I have a list of minorities that should only exist under my boot." "I can't believe my violent ideology wasn't passively accepted!"