Police Have 'Strong Suspect' in Assault by Cyclist Over Racial Justice Flyers
Source: NBC Baltimore
Police have a “strong suspect” after a cyclist was caught on video this week on a Maryland bike trail gripping a young woman’s arm as he ripped a racial justice flyer out of her hand. One of two other young people with her told News4's Pat Collins the cyclist rammed him with his bike and pinned him to the ground.
Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh said Montgomery County Park Police have a suspect thanks to the “great response” to widely circulated video footage of the cyclist. An arrest is expected soon, sources said.
At the same time, multiple men say internet sleuths trying to identify the cyclist have falsely accused them in the attack and tarred their reputations online.
“I think it’s OK to do your own detective work if you like, but I very much draw the line at putting out names publicly unless there’s a positive ID,” one man said. He asked News4 not to use his name.
Read more: https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/police-have-strong-suspect-in-assault-by-cyclist-over-racial-justice-flyers/2324220/
From Michelle Kosinski:
NEW: Official source: Bethesda Bicycle Biff (actual name to come) is under arrest.
Being processed in the jail as we speak.
"Bicycle Biff"!
Link to tweet
= new reply since forum marked as read
will he be fired? I can't imagine attacking little kids with flyers was all worth it.
now.. like The Twilight Zone!
Not an "entire" country.. but enough that ASSFACE got rigged in..
... appeals to racism, sexism or anti-semitism can work so well.
for people they thought looked like the photo. Shame on those armchair detectives.
They're all so sorry now that they've damaged two people's lives....
Link to tweet
Text:
Thanks to tips from the community we identifed a suspect in the assault on the Capital Crescent Trail. A short while ago, Anthony Brennan 3rd of Kensington MD was taken into custody on the strength of a District Court arrest warrant. Official press release is available below.
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Laura Miers @LauraMiers
Poor John Damskey and Peter Weinberg. I’ve seen their names associated with this case for 24 hrs now. While social media often works quickly to identify bad actors, it can be a reckless process...sometimes even wrong.
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Test:
Twitter deciding two other guys "looked" like the guy goes to show the judicial system shouldn't rely so heavily on eye witness descriptions. All 3 of the men (2 innocent & 1 arrested) do look a lot alike. Wonder how many innocent people are in jail for looking like someone else?
KY...........
Looks like the right shade of red.
Is nothing sacred? Apparently not.
Updated 2:32 pm CDT, Saturday, June 6, 2020
Photo: AP
This photo provided by the Maryland-National Capital Park Police shows Anthony Brennan III. The Maryland-National Capital Park Police say that Brennan was arrested Friday, June 5, 2020, after a video appeared to show him violently grab an object from a young adult who was posting signs protesting the death of George Floyd. (Maryland-National Capital Park Police via AP)
BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — A Maryland man charged with assaulting three teenagers after a video showed him grabbing a protest flyer from one of teens is apologizing.
In a statement released by his lawyers, 60-year-old Anthony Brennan III of Kensington, Maryland, said he is “sick with remorse for the pain and fear I caused the victims on the trail."
Maryland-National Capital Park Police said Friday night that Brennan was charged with three counts of second-degree assault. The widely seen video shows an adult cyclist grabbing the wrist of a woman June 1 and then ripping a flyer from her hand. With his bicycle, he then bears down on another victim who was recording the incident.
Efforts on Social media to find the attacker prior to Friday's arrest resulted in multiple men being wrongly identified as the attacker by Twitter users.
More:
https://www.chron.com/news/article/Maryland-cyclist-arrested-for-assault-on-teens-15321811.php
