A man who was detained by police Wednesday for allegedly driving his motorcycle into a group of protesters lying down on Seventh Street has been identified in the media as Jeffery Dillon of San Francisco. SFist mentioned the incident in brief yesterday, and now we get further details via CBS 5, in which SFPD officer drew their weapons and thankfully no one was injured.
The protest, organized by Bay Resistance and Senior and Disability Action, began just after noon Wednesday outside the federal building at Seventh and Mission, and was a show of resistance to the Republican health care bill now working its way through the Senate. Approximately 20 people were lying down in the street in a symbolic "die-in," as CBS 5 reports, when a man on a red motorcycle came barreling through the group, heading the wrong way on Seventh, which is one-way, forcing several protesters to jump out of the way.
You can see the incident at about the 2:00 mark in the video below, which occurred about seven minutes after protesters began their "die-in."
As the Chronicle reports, the man was revving the motorcycle and clearly appeared to be targeting the protesters. Witness Tracey Brieger of Emeryville says that she heard him say, after he was detained by police, "You guys were blocking the intersection and now you’re not. See how that works?" After coming through the crowd the first time, the motorcyclist made a U-turn and came at them again.
Another witness, Bruce Allison, tells the Chronicle that he heard the suspect say, "If you want to go to the hospital, here you go," and "You will have health care if you people stop protesting."
The man has been ID'd via DMV records as Jeffery Dillon, an adult film industry entrepreneur with a significant social media presence on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, and the Chronicle finds that he's the admin of a Facebook group called White Privilege Club, which bills itself as "[not] a racist site/group, it is the exact opposite. It is a celebration of our culture and who we are." Further, on the group's page (which I can not find on Facebook, and is apparently not this one), Dillon says, "I am proud of who I am and my people. The media and these social justice warriors are going to try to shame us with the words ‘white privilege,’ well we will throw it right back at them and wear it as a badge of honor."
Dillon's Instagram shows him to be an avid bodybuilder and porn enthusiast, and if this offensive meme is any evidence, neither a fan of President Obama or President Trump. He works for a porn site called GameLink, and appears to have a stable home life, with dogs.
Per CBS 5, the suspect, whom police have not identified publicly, remains in custody and charges have not yet been filed.
Here's another angle on the incident below, via CBS 5.