A man was arrested Tuesday after he tore down an American flag and attacked three people with a cane during a Turning Point USA event at the University of Texas at Tyler, according to video and university officials.
The incident took place at a campus event hosted by the school’s TPUSA chapter, featuring Preston Parsons of the group’s Texas Tech chapter. The event invites students to step up to a microphone and debate conservative speakers.
Video posted by Frontlines TPUSA, which had drawn about 2.9 million views by Wednesday, shows a man wearing a cape and a tall hat walking up to the group’s table and ripping down an American flag on display.
According to the group, he then struck a TPUSA field representative and two students with a prop cane after calling those around him “fascist pieces of s—.”
In the footage, after being told his actions amounted to assault, the man holds up the flag and tells the crowd, “Y’all don’t deserve this,” before tossing it aside. He then raises the cane as if to strike someone else, curses at the crowd and orders them to back off while swinging the cane again.
University of Texas at Tyler police quickly took the man into custody and transported him to the county jail for processing. No injuries were reported.
As officers put him in handcuffs, one TPUSA representative told him that tearing down the flag violated their right to free speech. The man responded, “Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences.”
He then apologized to the officer and claimed he had been “backed into a corner” as he was led away.
Some early reports described the attacker as a student, but the university said in a statement that the man is not enrolled there. He was arrested and criminally trespassed from university property.
Rep. Nathaniel Moran, R-Texas, whose district includes Tyler, thanked campus police for stepping in quickly.
“It does not protect assaulting people you disagree with,” Moran said of the First Amendment, noting that it protects the right to speak and even to protest.
The man’s name has not been publicly released by authorities.
The attack is the latest confrontation at a Turning Point USA campus event. Conservative student activists have faced a string of hostile and sometimes violent encounters at universities across the country, including a recent incident at the University of Michigan in which a conservative activist was attacked.
Turning Point USA regularly sets up tables and debate events at colleges nationwide to engage students on political and cultural issues.
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