Maryland-National Capital Park Police say they are looking for a bicyclist who attacked people on the Capital Crescent Trail on Monday.
A video posted to the online community Reddit by the user “u/Flabbadabbadooh” shows a bicyclist wearing sunglasses, an orange helmet and a gray shirt pick up a bike and run toward the male who is filming.
The person who filmed the video wrote in the title that the man on the bike had attacked him and a group of friends who were putting up signs “calling for justice” for George Floyd.
Floyd was a black man in Minneapolis who was pronounced dead at a hospital on May 25 after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes. In a video that captured the incident, Floyd repeatedly said he could not breathe.
Chauvin has been charged with murder and manslaughter. On Wednesday, a murder charge against him was upgraded and three other officers were charged. All four officers were fired.
Floyd’s death has sparked protests in cities across the country.
The video of the bicyclist attacking the male on Monday is 16 seconds and shows him running toward the filmer for five seconds before the camera hits the ground.
“Hey. What the f—,” someone can be heard saying.
As the camera hits the ground, another male voice can be heard saying “The f—ing tape. You want it? Give it to me.”
NBC 4, which previously reported the confrontation, aired another portion of the video that shows the bicyclist attacking a female moments before he runs toward the person filming. That portion of the video was not on Reddit.
Park police posted a photo of the bicyclist on Twitter Tuesday and wrote that they were asking for the public’s help in identifying him. They asked people to call a detective at 301-929-2774 if they had information and to reference case number 20001297.
Park police issued a press release Thursday afternoon that said around 12:45 p.m. on Monday, three “young adults,” including one male and two females, were walking near the Dalecarlia Tunnel near the Brookmont area. A bicyclist, police wrote, started arguing with the three people, who were posting flyers.
The bicyclist then grabbed one of the flyers from one of the three people, police said. He then charged at one of the three with his bicycle, causing them to fall to the ground.
Capt. Jeffrey Coe, a park police spokesman, said in an interview Thursday morning that there hadn’t been any developments in the case.
“We’re hoping someone might be able to identify the person,” he said.
Dan Schere can be reached at Daniel.schere@moco360.media