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A group of young activists were posting flyers in support of the protests against police brutality on a trail in Montgomery County, Maryland when they encountered a man who confronted then assaulted them. His actions were caught on video.
The assault took place on June 1 along Capital Crescent Trail. The 7.04 mile-long trail runs from Bethesda, Maryland to Georgetown in Washington, DC. The young activists were posting protest flyers near the Dalecarlia Tunnel.
A video of the confrontation began circulating online showing the man getting in a young woman's face and ripping flyers from her hand as another person tells him to leave the young woman alone. The man then confronts the person who intervened then grabs his bike and uses it to ram the person filming.
The video went viral by Thursday night.
The Maryland-National Capital Park Police are now looking for the male cyclist.
In the viral footage, the cyclist is seen approaching a young woman and aggressively trying to wrestle what appears to be a flyer from her hand.
Another woman can be heard screaming at the man to leave her alone, repeatedly yelling:
"Do not touch her. She has nothing. DO NOT touch her!"
The cyclist then picks up his bike and runs along with it towards the person filming the confrontation.
The camera then loses focus and the footage is of the ground, indicating that the person capturing the incident had stumbled.
The man who filmed the interaction filled in the blanks of what the camera did not capture, with NBC Washington.
"He sees the fact that I've recorded him doing that and he grabs his bike and runs it into me and pins me to the ground."
In addition to the physical assault, the man verbally attacked the group with expletives and repeatedly called them "deviants."
Twitter demanded justice.
The young activists were also commended for their bravery.
The cyclist in the video had not yet been identified.
Maryland-National Capital Park Police said in a press release that three "young adults"—including two females and one male— were involved in the incident that occurred on 12:45 p.m. on Monday.
After the Park Police posted a tweet asking for the public's help, they posted a followup on Thursday night encouraging people to "keep the tips coming."
Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh also spoke out on Twitter and asked anyone with information on the cyclist to come forward.
WJLA posted a picture of one of the flyers being posted by the group that was under attack.
It read:
"KILLER COPS WILL NOT GO FREE."
"DO NOT LIVE IN IGNORANCE."
"USE YOUR PRIVILEGE FOR GOOD."
A CBS affiliate in Baltimore said police described the cyclist as a man "between 50 and 60 years old, about 6-feet tall with a medium build and short brown hair."
Anyone with information is instructed to contact Detective Lopez at 301-929-2774 and to refer to case number 20001297.