‘Surreal and terrifying’: Protester shares what led to DMPD charging man with assault
By Kayla James
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DES MOINES, Iowa (KCCI) — A member of an organization that’s put together bridge visibility protests in Des Moines says she experienced a “surreal and terrifying” moment caught on camera when she says a man assaulted a protester and tore signs at a demonstration held last week.
Des Moines Police say Bradley Jay Nall, 68, is charged with assault and fifth-degree criminal mischief.
Police say on Aug. 12, Nall was driving his vehicle on the 56th Street bridge over I-235 as a protest was going on. According to what police learned from protesters, Nall stopped his vehicle, got out, and “aggressively approached” the group.
Protesters tell KCCI the signs placed together on the railing read “Trump = Hitler” on Aug. 12.
“He was just raging and he tore all of our signs off and hit one of the ladies and flight a sign at me,” said Heather Ryan, who was part of the group of protesters. “I’ve never experienced anything like it. It was surreal and terrifying.”
In the video, protesters and Nall can be heard and seen yelling back and forth as Nall ripped the signs down.
“He just kept calling us expletives,” said Ryan. “He just kept calling us dirty words and ripping them off.”
Ryan says there were five people out there in the group when the altercation occurred. Just a little over a week later, around two dozen people came out to the bridge for another protest on Wednesday with the same message.
“That man surely did not intend for it to grow an upswell of support, but that’s exactly what he did,” said Ryan.
KCCI did try to contact Nall, which included reaching out to a listed number that we learned was no longer in service. KCCI also reached out through a fundraising page with his name listed as the contact person Wednesday afternoon, but as of Wednesday night the link leads to a page that reads “fundraiser not found.”
“One angry man is not going to frighten me off. In fact, I think it just emboldened people,” said Ryan. “He emboldened us, and he emboldened a whole movement behind us.”
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