Man punches anti-Trump protester outside rally, crowd chants 'lock him up!'

Dillon Thompson
Updated
Man punches anti-Trump protester outside rally, crowd chants 'lock him up!'

A Kentucky man has been charged with assault after punching a protestor in the face during a rally for President Trump on Thursday, according to WCPO.

The victim, 61-year-old Mike Alter, was protesting with a crowd outside of the event at Cincinnati's U.S. Bank Arena when the incident occurred. That's when Dallas Frazier, 29, reportedly pulled up in a pickup truck and confronted Alter, eventually punching him multiple times.

Video of the altercation shows Frazier exiting the truck's passenger seat as him and Alter begin yelling at one another. Police stated that Frazier then approached Alter and said, "You want some?"

Alter can be seen in the video gesturing toward Frazier, which he later said was not meant to be a provocation.

“I was more questioning him," Alter told WCPO. “Like, really you want to fight?”

Frazier hit Alter at least three times before the fight was broken up.

"[I thought], 'What the hell?' He started just whaling on my head," Alter told WCPO. "I didn't go down, for what that's worth."

Police quickly rushed in and handcuffed Frazier, who was reportedly the only person arrested during Thursday night's rally. He's scheduled to appear in court on Friday afternoon, according to WXIX.

Alter said other protestors later told him they'd seen Frazier circle the event in his truck multiple times. As Frazier was taken away by police, the crowd of protestors began chanting, "Lock him up!"

The rally, which President Trump called a "record crowd," featured nearly 17,500 attendees. In addition to the Trump himself, the event featured speeches from Donald Trump Jr., Vice President Mike Pence and Ohio Governor Mike DeWine.

This isn't the first time that violence has found its way to a Trump rally. During the 2016 campaign, he told supporters he would pay for their legal fees if they stopped anti-Trump protestors.

"If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously, OK? Just knock the hell ... I promise you I will pay for the legal fees. I promise, I promise," Trump said at the February 2016 rally.