The US Navy veteran who was caught on camera getting beaten with a baton and sprayed in the face by federal officers has spoken out and revealed he had only approached them to ask a question before he got attacked.
53-year-old Chris David, who served in the Navy, attended the Saturday protest in Portland, Oregon, after feeling upset about seeing videos in which federal agents are seen arresting demonstrators and taking them away in unmarked vehicles.
According to David, the federal agents are breaking their oath to serve and protect and he wanted to ask them why in person.
In a video that took over the internet, David is seen approaching a group of unmarked officers who were in a clash with protesters outside the city’s federal courthouse.
“I wanted to ask them: ‘Why are you guys not following the Constitution?’ But we never got there. They whaled on me like a punching bag,” the 53-year-old said in an interview with REUTERS.
Moments after David approached the officers, one of them pushed him away before another started striking him with his baton repeatedly. Withstanding the blows, David was then sprayed in the face before turning around and walking away.
While walking off the scene, David raised his arms in the air and pointed middle fingers at the federal agents.
Following the confrontation, David revealed he managed to ask the agents a question before they pushed him away and beaten him with a baton.
“Why are you not honoring your oath? Why are you not honoring your oath to the Constitution?” the veteran allegedly asked them.
After retreating from the frontline, David had been treated by a street medic before being taken to a hospital where he found out that his hand had been broken.
Following the incident, David said he saw a lot of people praising him and calling him a hero on social media. However, he insists he was just one of the “normal people out there” protesting.
“It’s just us normal people out there. There were a whole group of pregnant moms standing out there linking arms and they got gassed,” the veteran claimed.
“[People] say it’s just a bunch of wacko fringe people in liberal cities who are out there, but no way. We’re all just normal people who think what’s happening is wrong.”
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Replaced!