Notoriously violent former Proud Boys leader arrested for assaulting health care workers in Idaho: report

On Wednesday, The Daily Beast reported that a former Proud Boys leader, Kyle "Based Stickman" Chapman, has been arrested after allegedly assaulting health care workers in Idaho.

"Court records accuse Chapman of committing one such attack on Nov. 11. He was arrested on Tuesday, jail records show. Assaulting health care workers is a felony in Idaho, where public health employees have previously reported COVID-related harassment, including a mob of demonstrators at a Boise official’s home," reported Kelly Weill. "Details of the incident are still scant. A criminal complaint was not immediately available on Wednesday, and prosecutors were unavailable to comment on the case."

The Proud Boys are a self-described "Western Chauvinist" group infamous for instigating violent street brawls — and Chapman was in the middle of these efforts.

READ MORE: Trump is ‘shooting at the bow of DeSantis’ in battle for ‘MAGA grassroots’: MSNBC analyst

"Chapman earned the nickname 'Based Stickman' after he was filmed hitting a leftist demonstrator in the head with a club at the March 2017 'March 4 Trump' rally in Berkeley, California," said the report. "The attack made Chapman an instant celebrity on the far-right. He gave speeches at pro-Trump events and dabbled in his own clothing line. He also received an outpouring of funds from the far right, including the paramilitary group the Proud Boys. The organization’s founder, former Vice lout-in-chief Gavin McInnes, claimed that he considered making Chapman the group’s new president, but settled for placing him at the head of a particularly noxious brawling division called the Fraternal Order of the Alt-Knights."

"But Chapman’s violent legacy began catching up with him in 2019 when he was sentenced for past attacks in two states," noted Weill. In one of the incidents in Austin, Texas, he attacked a bar-goer during the afterparty of a Trump rally: "Witnesses to the attack described Chapman as picking a fight with another bar-goer, punching the man, and hitting him in the head with a wooden barstool. The assault left Chapman’s victim with a brain hemorrhage and facial fractures that required surgery."

An earlier report indicated Chapman sharply disagreed with other Proud Boy leaders about their policy of publicly distancing themselves from white nationalism, writing in a message to supporters, "We will no longer cuck to the left by appointing token negroes as our leaders. We will no longer allow homosexuals or other 'undesirables' into our ranks. We will confront the Zionist criminals who wish to destroy our civilization."

You can read more here.