Man sprays crowd at pier
Police say Trump supporter used bear repellent in the Santa Monica scuffle.
A man wildly sprayed bear repellent into a crowd during a scuff le on the Santa Monica Pier on Saturday between supporters and protesters of President Trump, according to police and a video of the incident.
The clash occurred around 1:20 p.m. after a group protesting Trump and Vice President Mike Pence made their way from the beach onto the pier, one of the region’s busiest tourist attractions, said Santa Monica Police Sgt. D. Hicks, who declined to give his full name.
The protesters were met by a group of Trump supporters, Hicks said. The groups traded chants and taunts for about 10 minutes and then “everything went to crap,” Hicks said.
Trump supporters appeared to begin pushing and scuffling with some of the protesters. A video of the expletive-filled skirmish posted to YouTube shows a man wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat circling the crowd, holding aloft a canister and unleashing a torrent of spray from it.
The substance, which Hicks said was bear repellent, sent the crowd scattering and people can be heard screaming on the video. As other Trump supporters held a protester on the ground, the man rushed back into the fracas and doused the protester at close range, the video shows.
Police received 911 calls from the pier and the video shows officers responding soon after the man sprayed the crowd. Several people pointed out the man, and he was arrested, according to the video.
Hicks said he was not authorized to release the man’s name, but described him as a 33-year-old area resident with a “fairly extensive” criminal record. The man remained in custody Sunday on suspicion of violating the terms of his parole from a previous weapons offense, Hicks said.
After viewing the video, police realized a second, older Trump supporter may also have sprayed the crowd. Police are working to identify that man, Hicks said.
Hicks said no protesters were seriously injured and some were treated at the scene for the repellent, which is similar to pepper sprays used by police.