Twitter Tim Carpenter collapsed on the ground at a protest in Madison, Wisconsin.
Wisconsin State Senator Tim Carpenter has posted video of the moments before he was “punched and kicked in the head” at June 23 protests in Madison, Wisconsin. A local journalist said he called an ambulance when Carpenter collapsed shortly after.
The senator said he is currently locked in his office at the State Capitol in Madison after he was attacked by “8-10 people.”
In the video the senator posted, several people run towards the cameraman and appear to knock the camera down before the footage cuts out.
The senator was punched in the face while filming protests at the scene near Capitol Square early in the morning of June 24, Isthmus journalist Dylan Brogan reported.
“@TimCarpenterMKE was just punched in the face by Madison protesters because he was filming. Several people attacked him,” Brogan said on Twitter.
Carpenter said on Twitter he may have a concussion after being “punched and kicked in the head.”
“This is the picture that got me assaulted and beat up by a mob. Punched & kicked in the head. Might have concussion, left eye a little blurry, cheek shollen, sore neck and ribs. This has to stop before some innocent person get killed. I locked up in the Capitol until it’s safe.”
Protests were unfolding on North Fairchild Street and Hamilton Street. NBC reporter George Balekji said “law enforcement in full riot gear” had turned up in Madison in a “standoff between protestors and police.”
NBC later reported that protesters had pushed police back at the scene “after a tense 90 minutes.”
Tweet Shows Carpenter Collapsed on the Ground
Sports Director at WKOW Lance Veeser said on Twitter he called emergency responders to attend to a collapsed Carpenter at the protests. He tweeted a picture with the caption, “I believe this is State Senator Tim Carpenter. Minutes earlier he told us the protesters assaulted him. Then he collapsed walking towards the Capitol. We called paramedics. An ambulance is here now.”
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Lawrence Andrea said protesters claimed Carpenter “provoked them” to the action. He said he spoke to the senator, who claimed he was “just taking a picture of the protesters” when he was attacked.
Journal Sentinel’s Molly Beck says she spoke with Carpenter at the scene of the incident and quoted him as saying, “I don’t know what happened … all I did was stop and take a picture … and the next thing I’m getting five-six punches, getting kicked in the head.”
Protesters Toppled the Forward Statue
Protesters brought down the Forward statue — a statue of a woman representing progress that stood outside the Capitol. Channel 3000 said “the protest was sparked by the arrest of a Black activist who was protesting outside Cooper’s Tavern earlier in the day.”
Posting a video of the moment the statue was felled, State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos called the tearing down of the statue “absolutely despicable.”
Protesters also toppled a statue of Colonel Hans Christian Heg — who died in battle “fighting to preserve the United States and end slavery,” according to the Wisconsin State Journal —and “dragged it into Lake Monona.”
Protesters Threw Beer & Water Over Cars as Vehicles Drove Through Crowds
Protesters were pouring “beer and water over a car on Blair Street, after yelling at the female driver,” State Journal reporter Emily Hamer said.
Crowds were chanting “free Yeshua” after demonstrations had kicked off at the Dane County Jail “because of the arrest of a Black activist earlier,” Hamer said.
The Wisconsin State Journal reported that Devonere Johnson, 28, who has identified himself multiple times as Yeshua Musa, “was arrested after causing a disturbance in a restaurant on the Capitol Square” earlier June 23. The State Journal reported that “as many as five officers” were involved in the arrest and carried Johnson to a police car after they say he resisted.
Hamer reported that one man was hit when a car drove into the crowd.
The protests continued on through the night. Hamer also tweeted a video when a fight broke out. “A few protesters just beat a man up and smashed the windows of his car, after the man rammed into a person’s bike, then came out of his car walking towards protesters with his fists raised.
“I saw the man on the ground curled up in a ball.”
Hamer also reported the crowd “lit a garbage can on fire and something inside of a window of the Madison Police Station,” and there were broken windows at the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership.
Wisconsin Black Lives Matter activists were seeking information after an unidentified individual or group carried out a mock lynching in Milwaukee park during the protests, OD Action News said.
READ NEXT: Macy’s Employee Beaten in Flint, Michigan