re: #333 RadicalModerate

Some more info from the “Wisconsin Union Violence” footage that was shown on the Bill O’Reilly show last night - as has already been reported, the footage was from a rally in Sacremento, CA last week. However, what the video didn’t show was that the shoving was instigated by a tea-partier who had jumped into a street crossing the protestors were marching on to directly accost the protestors.

Demonstration turns into shoving match at state Capitol

An amateur videographer caught a shoving match on tape. The video showed a face to face argument right before Richard Andazola, 28, of Stockton, shoved a tea party activist.

“He bum rushed across the street, came right at us, swung his bullhorn at me, hit me in the hand and then put his hand around my throat and started choking me, Rodney Stanhope of Placerville said.

The video doesn’t show the choking incident, but clearly shows the shoving. Because of it, Sacramento Police officers cited Andazola for battery.

Andazola tells a different story though.

“He was spitting on me, he’s bigger than me, and I told him to get off of me,” Andazola said. “I was backing up and he was staying on me ‘til the point that he spit in my mouth.”

That incident was the only one that occured. The rest of the demonstration fizzled out with arguments yelled across 10th Street.

Video here: news10.net

The footage that is included on the link clearly shows that the Tea Partier’s account of the incident is, outside of his being shoved is pretty much an entire fabrication. What is shown is that the protestors were moving across the street, apparently at the direction of local law enforcement who are clearly seen in the video. The guy on the bullhorn (I’m guessing a Teamsters Union member, per the jacket he’s wearing) and the Tea Partier got a bit too close to each other, were doing some yelling, and the shoving incident occurred. No punches were thrown, just Andazola shoving Stanhope away from him.