[ad_1]
Conflicting reports emerged after a supporter of US President Donald Trump intervened when a crowd turned on a black woman in the United States this week.
In the shocking images, captured by Raquel Natalicchio, the red-haired bear Roy Ball is seen hugging Berlinda Nibo, who was brutally attacked by Trump supporters in Los Angeles.
Initially, she insisted that the man holding her was her “hero” and the Los Angeles Police Department tweeted that he was “a good Samaritan.”
However, in the days that followed, new, different and disturbing accounts have emerged, casting doubt on Ball’s intentions when he grabbed Nibo.
Nibo was walking home to downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday when he encountered members of a local “Stop the Steal” rally and began live streaming the event, the Washington Post reported.
“They’re yelling at me for my color, calling me the n-word, calling me the b-word, saying, ‘All lives matter. Black lives don’t matter,'” Nibo, 25, told KCAL.
Shocking footage from the incident shows dozens of protesters swarming Nibo. As they push her, they rip off her wig and pepper it with pepper spray.
“I tell them, ‘No, I’m not a Trump supporter. I don’t care. Please leave me alone. I’m just trying to get home,'” she told KTTV.
When Nibo first spoke to the media, she gave the man credit for protecting her and taking her to safety.
“That guy, I call him my hero. That guy picked me up, whispered in my ear and said, ‘Go on. You’re good. I have you, I have your phone. You’re okay, I’ll get you out of here. These people are trying to kill you, “he told NBC 4 on Thursday.
But after her initial statement, several other eyewitness accounts claimed that she was actually pounded in the eyes while Ball restrained her, saying that he is not a hero.
“Roy Ball was not a bystander. He was involved,” one user tweeted.
Images of two unidentified witnesses leaping out of the crowd to escort Nibo to the police line have circulated since the initial reports of the incident.
Later, Nibo has said that she was unable to see who helped her by pulling her out of the crowd and was trying to retract her statement from the man who “saved” her, according to an Instagram account.
Nibo has also told Buzzfeed News that he did not defend himself because at the time he did need help and trusted him.
However, when the man held her with his hands at her sides, someone pepper sprayed her in the face for at least the third time.
“It didn’t help me,” Nibo told the news outlet. “It would have helped me more if he had given way to get out of there completely.”
Witness Di Barbadillo told LAIST that it was she and two others who actually took Nibo to safety.
“If I intended to help her, I don’t think I would be able to move on,” Barbadillo said. “We took her out of there and walked her to the other side of the street.”
Issuing their own statement, Los Angeles police said the man “appears to have been a good Samaritan” who “turned her away from the hostile crowd and let her go.”
“The LAPD continues to conduct a thorough investigation, and we encourage any witnesses or those with information about the suspects to contact central area detectives,” police said in a statement.
No one has yet been arrested in connection with the attack on Nibo, according to NBC Los Angeles.
As for Ball, it is understood that when the images first appeared, he was identified by social media users and has since been fired for his participation in the rally after Twitter users identified him as an employee at a car dealer.
[ad_2]