A 45-year-old Texas man was arrested Tuesday on assault charges after getting into a physical altercation with a student who participated in an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement walkout protest, police said.
Earlier this week, students at Moe and Gene Johnson High School, located in Buda, Texas, walked out of classes in protest of the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement.
While the protest was largely peaceful, a verbal altercation between an adult man in a vehicle and a female juvenile on the sidewalk escalated into physical violence, according to video of the incident posted online, shared by CBS Austin.
The man, Chad Michael Watts, allegedly got out of his vehicle and confronted the female juvenile, resulting in an exchange of punches. After Watts pushed the girl to the ground, other students began attacking him, the video shows.
Watts was arrested nearly a day after the incident and charged with two counts of assault causing bodily injury, the Buda Police Department said. The Hays County District Attorney said it was investigating the matter as well.
“No matter one’s political views, an adult bears a clear responsibility to exercise restraint, especially in the presence of children,” the Hays County DA said. “Violence or intimidation directed at a minor – particularly during a lawful, peaceful demonstration – has no place in a constitutional republic that depends on the rule of law rather than force.
Multiple videos of the interaction, posted online, show Watts, holding what appears to be a red hat, challenging students, some of whom were holding “ICE out” signs.
After Watts pushed the girl to the ground, several students physically confronted him. One jumped on Watt’s back and pulled him to the ground while others began hitting him, punching him and pulling his hair, the video shows.
Buda police said that after a thorough investigation, “it was determined that Watts was the primary aggressor in the physical altercation.”
Both Watts and the juvenile girl sustained minor injuries but did not need EMS attention on the scene.
Law enforcement is conducting an ongoing investigation into the fight and said other charges against Watts could be filed.
Students across the country have planned walkouts in protest of President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement operations.
The walkout protests have sparked anger from some Texas officials, including Attorney General Ken Paxton, who accused officials in the Austin Independent School District of imposing a “radical political agenda” on students who planned the walkout.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott also condemned the student protests while sharing an article that stated two juveniles in Hays County were arrested for possession of alcohol and resisting arrest. Law enforcement officials said those arrests had nothing to do with the protests.
But Abbott used the article to call the protests “disruptive” and assert that school staff should be treated as “co-conspirators” in “criminal behavior.”
“We are also looking into stripping the funding of schools that abandon their duty to teach our kids the curriculum required by law,” Abbott said.
