By Daily Dot staff
A white man was caught on video walking or jogging through a silent vigil for George Floyd without wearing a mask and muttering “bullshit.”
An anonymous Facebook user shared a video and a few images of the man on Thursday. In the post, the user claimed that the man came through the vigil at Carl Schurz Park in New York City a few times and that he was seen making derogatory remarks at protesters.
“This man came through this path MULTIPLE TIMES (around 4 or 5) while spitting hate at the protesters and filming the whole time,” the user wrote. “Not only did he disrespect the moment of silence but he showed blatant disregard for public safety by walking close to people without a mask on.”
In the video, only a few seconds long, the man wears a black T-shirt, shorts, and a cap. He jogs through a fleet of silent protesters, each seated at a distance and holding their fist up during the vigil for Floyd, who was killed last month by police.
As the man goes through the crowd, instead of around it, he holds his phone and appears to be recording as he moved. As he gets closer to the camera, he’s seen muttering “bullshit bunch” amid an otherwise inaudible comment.
He isn’t wearing a mask in the video.
The Facebook user wrote in the post that after the video was recorded, another participant said the man had “disrupted” other protests.
“This man is REPEATEDLY coming to this park to harass . . . peaceful protesters,” the user said. “This is PREDATORY BEHAVIOR and he’s shown it on more than one occasion.”
The user wrote in an update that others witnessed the man in the company of plainclothes cops, allegedly to “get people in trouble.” The user also asked for help identifying the man.
An anonymous person claiming to be the man in the video contacted the Daily Dot on Friday and claimed he was running through the park, not interrupting the vigil.
“I have been exercising in that park for years,” the person wrote. “I did not disrupt the protest. The protests are disrupting my entire life. These people got in my face two days ago, harassed me for my race, and are determined to find out who I am so they can try to destroy my life and/or bring me other forms of harm. … I was trying to get my standard exercise and these people were in my way. I was there first. They cannot block people and stairways in the park, legally.”
The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation prohibits “acts that endanger the safety of others” but does not specifically ban sitting on stairways.
In a separate email to the Daily Dot, the person claimed to have a First Amendment right to “run up and down in the park.” The First Amendment protects freedom of speech, religion, the press, peaceable assembly, and petitions to the government but does not protect exercise in public parks.
The person said they filed a complaint with the New York Police Department (NYPD) accusing the Facebook user of harassment, but the NYPD told the Daily Dot that no complaint was made.
While some people commented on the Facebook post expressing their anger and offering to help identify the man, a few supporters of President Donald Trump dismissed the post.
“You only tell one side of the story to get people to think he is the problem when he films the entire thing just so he can cover his back from lies like this,” wrote one user whose profile displayed a “Women for Trump” badge.
“I’m so sick of these white liberals apologizing for being born white and kneeling down to the black people,” the user added.
Update 5:17pm CT, June 30: This article has been revised to reflect statements from a person who says he is the subject of the video, who disputed the Facebook user’s claims and the Daily Dot’s description of the incident.
The name of the Facebook user who initially shared the photo to Facebook has been removed from this article at the user’s request. The user removed their post including the video of the incident; therefore, it is no longer available in this article.
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