A second arrest of a Proud Boys member, the far-right male-only group that supports President Donald Trump, was made Friday following a public brawl in New York City between the group's members and anti-racist protesters.
The New York Police Department told Newsweek Saturday that John Kinsman, 39, of New Jersey was charged with attempted gang assault, attempted assault, riot and criminal possession of a weapon.
Kinsman's arrest came the day after 38-year-old Geoffrey Young of New York was arrested and charged with riot and attempted assault.
The men's arrests were for their involvement in the October 12 fight caught on camera in which Proud Boys members were seen ganging up on anti-racist protesters to kick and punch them. The street fighting occurred after an event hosted by Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes, also a founder of the media company Vice, at the New York Metropolitan Republican Club in New York City's Upper East Side. McInnes severed his ties with Vice more than 10 years ago.
The NYPD said it's still searching for additional individuals seen in the video.
The Proud Boys event at the Republican club was to "discuss historical context and offer perspective on the environment that surrounded Otoya Yamaguchi," an extremist right-wing Japanese activist who murdered a politician with whom he disagreed using a sword, then killed himself, "in 1960's Japan." McInnes could be seen in videos posted on social media brandishing a sword on the streets of New York. Tickets for the event were sold for $10 to $20.
Photojournalist Sandi Bachom spoke with Newsweek the morning after she caught much of the fighting on camera. With counter-protesters gathering, some believed to be members of the left-wing Antifa group, Bachom said police escorted Proud Boys members out of the Republican club following their event. Shortly thereafter, she said it appeared two or three Antifa members knocked a red "Make America Great Again" hat off the head of a Proud Boys member, sparking numerous Proud Boys members to start "beating the shit out of them."
"It flashed me back to Charlottesville because of the intensity of this random violence that was so upsetting to all of us who were they," Bachom said. She was injured during the violent Unite the Right rally last year in Charlottesville, Virginia, which left one woman dead after James Alex Fields Jr. allegedly drove his car into a group of counter-protesters.
"If the cops hadn't pulled up, they probably would have just kept going and killed them," Bachom said.
Following the fight, a Proud Boys member posted a video on Twitter bragging with other members about how they had just " [smashed their heads] into the pavement" and "dragged him across the ground."
No arrests were immediately made of Proud Boys members following the event, but three arrests were made of individuals believed to be anti-racist counter-protesters and involved in the incident, according to New York public defender Rebecca Kavanagh.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo called for a hate crime investigation into the incident shortly after it occurred.
Kinsman was seen in court on Friday at an arraignment hearing with the words "Proud Boy" tattooed across his right forearm.
#JohnKinsman of the #ProudBoys was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court late last night on charges of Attempted Gang Assault in the Second Degree (a felony) & various misdemeanor charges.
— Rebecca Kavanagh (@DrRJKavanagh) October 20, 2018
He is being held in jail on $25,000 bail. pic.twitter.com/kJ1nWOh0i7
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About the writer
Ramsey Touchberry is a Washington Correspondent for Newsweek based in the nation's capital, where he regularly covers Congress.
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