https://nypost.com/2018/07/06/teen-in-maga-hat-reportedly-made-racist-comments-before-man-snapped/so if anyone followed a bit more of that MAGA cap story out of San Antonio...
the kid gets assaulted, a drink thrown in his face and cap stolen at a whataburger. He managed to capture the attack itself on his cell phone, recording just as the guy went off.The guy gets fired from his job after being identified, then arrested.
A local station then later posts a detailed article citing an anonymous 'witness' who said he saw the kid making racist jokes about the purge and hanging black people prior to the incident. The witness says he and his family were receiving death threats.
The 'witness's statements are completely at odds with the other witnesses. The kid and his mother say it was an unprovoked attack, and the attacker himself gave a brief statement to the press saying nothing about racist remarks, only that he was triggered by seeing the hat.
The 'witness's story also doesn't make any logical sense: How could he be receiving death threats if he's anonymous? Theres no identity anywhere online. The only source on the internet making such a claim is that TV station that reported that witness. Its also not consistent with the attacker's own statements in the video, where he's plainly taking issue with the cap, not anything the kid said. He never said anything to indicate he was reacting to racist statements.
Furthermore, the police department denied there being any such witness:
https://www.ksat.com/news/fact-check-heres-what-we-know-about-the-viral-maga-hat-theft-incidentQuote
While a local news outlet reported that a witness said the victim and his two friends were making racist remarks before the incident, the San Antonio Police Department said Friday that it has no record of that occurring.
A spokesman for the Police Department said that, while someone may have told the news outlet that they supposedly heard the group make racist remarks, that information was not reported to police.
Only two witnesses -- the 16-year-old victim's friends -- are mentioned in the affidavit as witnesses to the incident.
Now that station has editted their article, but not retracted it. They removed the inflammatory quotes claiming the kid was talking about hanging blacks. They added this;
Quote
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story included quotes from the alleged witness. Those have been removed from this copy due to concerns about the legitimacy of the statements.
KENS 5 was not able to independently verify the witness statements. The account from this witness remains in contrast with the original post from the alleged victim's mother, who claimed the attack was completely unprovoked.
Of course, the damage has been done. That claim about the kid provoking the attack was repeated in plenty of major outlets and circled all over social media. A few sites deleted their articles, even
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