Man who confronted protesters in viral incident faces assault charge, Plano police say

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Plano police said Monday that a man who angrily confronted a group of protesters earlier this month faces a misdemeanor assault charge for his actions during the incident, which was captured on viral video.

A short time after police announced the charge, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton waded into the fray, decrying “mob rule” and “lawlessness” in the city.

Scott, 26, had been arrested in Allen after police found him sitting next to a joint; civil-rights attorney Lee Merritt, who is representing Scott’s family, has suggested he was having a mental-health crisis. At the county’s detention center, jailers tried to strap Scott to a restraint bed, pepper-sprayed him and placed a spit hood over his head before he became unresponsive.

Scott’s death was ruled a homicide caused by “fatal acute stress response in an individual with previously diagnosed schizophrenia during restraint struggle with law enforcement.”

Seven jailers were fired following an internal investigation — one has successfully appealed the decision — and an eighth resigned. Scott’s family and their supporters have called for arrests as the Texas Rangers continue a criminal investigation.

Video from the May 2 demonstration shows the group standing in an intersection at Preston Road and State Highway 121, holding signs and chanting among the vehicles.

A man walks up the protesters while yelling, “Get the [expletive] out of my way!” He also implores a police officer standing nearby to “get these [expletive] people” out of the road as the officer calmly speaks to him.

The man then walks up to a woman who is recording him with her cellphone and tries to smack the phone out of her hand. Demonstrators approach the man, who attempts to stand his ground — at one point pulling his left hand back in a fist while putting his right hand on Merritt’s chest — before the officer steers him back toward his vehicle.

Footage of the confrontation, which already had been shared widely online, gained new life Saturday when a far-right internet personality tweeted the clip, casting the motorist as a victim who had a gun pointed at him during the incident.

In a lengthy Facebook post Monday afternoon, Plano police stressed that no one brandished a firearm at any point; one man pointed a stun gun at the motorist in an attempt to protect the woman, police said.

According to the police account, a caller had reported a broken traffic signal at the intersection but the responding officer found that there were about 50 protesters in and near the road.

The woman who said she was assaulted told authorities that the motorist had slapped her hand while trying to hit her phone. Police said the officer did not see the alleged assault but “de-escalated the situation by removing the male away from the crowd.”

Police said that after reviewing footage of the incident they filed a charge of assault by contact against the man, whom they did not name. The Class C misdemeanor is punishable by a fine of up to $500.

“There were no injuries or property damaged during this incident and no one pointed a firearm at anyone,” police said in the statement. “The officers’ priorities at the time were to de-escalate the situation and clear the roadway. The roadway was clear and traffic was moving in approximately seven minutes after the first officer arrived.

“It is regrettable that so many people have falsely reported on this incident over social media,” police said.

Less than two hours after police released their statement, Paxton tweeted a statement of his own, condemning what he saw as lawlessness in the Collin County city.

The attorney general — who continues to await trial on securities fraud charges after being indicted in 2015 — wrote that Plano police Chief Ed Drain was too willing to excuse the demonstrators’ actions and expressed bewilderment that the motorist faced a charge but none of the protesters did.

Paxton said he supports Texans’ right to peaceful protest but won’t allow “our beautiful Texas cities and neighborhoods to become Portland or Seattle or San Francisco because of the unchecked left.”

Drain could not immediately be reached for a response to Paxton’s statement.