Man in Viral Protest Photo Says He Yelled At Officers Over Alleged Assault, Not in Defiance: The Media ‘Twists Everything’

KJ EdelmanMay 6th, 2020, 10:29 am
 

Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images

The subject of a viral shutdown protest photo claimed he didn’t “scream in anybody’s face” and that the incident arose after he saw an officer who allegedly assaulted a women the day prior, according to the Detroit Free Press.

“I was there chanting, ‘Let us in,’ and I saw that guy and I just, I just kind of lost it a little bit,” 52-year-old Brian Cash told the paper.

Cash said the media “twists everything” and that the officer he was yelling at was behind the two officers pictured.

Despite the viral photo which has garnered negative attention, he called protests at the Michigan capitol “awesome” and said “anybody of any color should have the right to do what I did.” It was one of four protests Cash has attended.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer painted a different picture of protests were like last week, saying on Friday, “[The] scene at the Capitol was disturbing, to be quite honest. Swastikas and confederate flags, nooses and automatic rifles do not represent who we are as Michiganders. This state has a rich history of people coming together in times of crisis.”

Cash’s outburst toward an officer came a day after three women were removed from the public gallery after it was closed. Michigan State Police Lt. Darren Green called the incident “pretty vanilla” but it still prompted an investigation.

Cash said he’s received hundreds of Facebook messages over the photo — a mix of support and hate — and “loves it.”

“It’s great,” he said. “[People have] their right to disagree and call me names.”

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