There were various reports about some chaos, and police intervention, outside the old Lexington Club on Pink Saturday, after an offshoot of the planned Dyke March went rogue and decided to follow the march's usual route. Some were upset that SF Pride organizers had tried to corral the more anarchic roots of the march, forcing it to happen earlier because of the re-scheduling of Pink Saturday (June 27), and they showed their displeasure by ultimately rallying at the Lex. It was there that 24-year-old Tony Nguyen saw police using what he considered excessive force to subdue a woman who was screaming in pain on the street. He stepped in, as shown in the video above, trying to express this he had not even been part of the protest but just stepped out of a nearby pizzeria for some air. But police immediately took him for another protester harassing them, and he was immediately slammed onto a squad car, and shoved to the ground. He was arrested for assault on a police officer and resisting arrest, even though the video clearly shows he did nothing but try to speak to the cops.
As ABC 7 reports, no charges against Nguyen were filed, but he now wants to file a civil complaint, and he's working with civil rights attorney Kate Chatfield. Says Chatfield, "He came out and saw a woman being hurt, and he acted best he could in a non-violent way as best he could to address this."
Below you can see some video via Doctor Popular that showed some of what preceded these arrests. Nguyen was one of two people arrested that day.
Shit got tense at the Lex. She hit the officer with the flag a few seconds before this though. #SFPride pic.twitter.com/75nHSDiW7A
— Doctor Popular (@DocPop) June 28, 2015
