REVEALED: Blubbering racist Chris Cantwell almost got off scot-free -- but protesters forced cops to act

Chris Cantwell, the infamous Charlottesville marcher known as the "crying Nazi," turned himself in to police this week for his alleged assault on anti-racist protesters.

However, it turns out that police in Charlottesville were not going to pursue any charges against Cantwell before their hands were forced by protesters who produced video evidence of him pepper spraying them in the face.

The Daily Beast reports that "police did not seek the warrants that led to the arrest of white supremacist Christopher Cantwell this week." Instead, the warrants were issued only after protesters "swore to a local magistrate they were attacked by Cantwell, and the magistrate issued three felony warrants based on their accusations."

Kristopher Cheney Goad, one of the activists who pursued an arrest warrant for Cantwell, told the Daily Beast that he has sufficient video evidence to show that he and his fellow activists were assaulted by the white supremacist during this month's Charlottesville demonstrations.

"As anyone can clearly see from public videos from that night, Cantwell's claims for self defense are not valid," he said.

Charlottesville police have been criticized for being too lenient when it came to arresting violent white supremacists who were attacking counter-demonstrators during rallies in the city earlier this month.