A man wearing a cape and a top hat walked up to a Turning Point USA table at the University of Texas at Tyler on Tuesday, ripped down the American flag, and started swinging a cane at people. Three people were struck — a TPUSA field representative and two students — before a campus police officer tackled him and slapped on the cuffs. The whole thing was captured on multiple videos.
"Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences," the attacker reportedly said.
He's right about that. Just not in the direction he intended.
The event was a "Pick Up the Mic" gathering organized by the campus TPUSA chapter — a standard free-speech outreach table where students can ask questions, debate, or walk on by. The man in the cape chose option four: assault. According to Blaze News reporter Carlos Garcia, the attacker was not a current student at UT Tyler. He showed up in costume, tore down the flag, screamed "fascist pieces of sh*t" at the group, and told them "y'all don't deserve this" before swinging.
Campus police arrived fast. The video shows the officer disarming the attacker and putting him on the ground within seconds. He was transported to county jail and faces two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of assault causing bodily injury. He was also accused of trespassing.
No one required medical attention. The cane-wielding wizard's big political statement resulted in zero injuries and a mugshot.
UT Tyler President Dr. Julie V. Philley didn't hedge. "Everyone has the right to free speech, and violence will not be tolerated at this university," she said. U.S. Rep. Nathaniel Moran of Tyler was equally direct: "The First Amendment protects your right to speak, even to protest. It does not protect assaulting people you disagree with."
This wasn't an isolated campus flare-up. Townhall noted it was the third attack on conservative student groups within days, following similar incidents at the University of New Mexico and on Election Day. The pattern isn't complicated: a conservative group sets up a table, exercises the same First Amendment rights every campus organization has, and someone decides the appropriate response is violence.
The attacker told TPUSA members they were "backed into a corner." He was the one wearing a cape and swinging a cane at college students sitting behind a folding table. One of them was backed into a corner. It wasn't him.
Two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. One count of assault causing bodily injury. Trespassing. All on camera, from multiple angles, with audio.