During an anti-lockdown protest in North Carolina this Saturday, a tense moment was caught on video when a protester seemingly confronted a family who asked the group of protesters to stay away from them.
As The News & Observer reports, Deonte Thomas was walking with his family when he saw a group of armed protesters attempting to cross to his side of the street. When he told them to carry on towards their original path, a man carrying a large pipe wrench headed straight toward Thomas, his wife and their children.
“I will question to the end of my days how I reacted or should have reacted,” Thomas, an attorney for the Wake County public defender’s office, told The News & Observer. “Could I have handled things differently? What is going to happen if someone reacts differently toward them? I wish I was cursing and more aggressive with them in some parts of the video but that just gives them ammunition to say ‘Look at this angry black guy out here cursing in the middle of the street in front of his kids.’”
At one point in the video, the man outstretches his hand to Thomas, which Thomas interpreted as a Nazi salute.
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