Black Trump Supporter Beats White Anti-Trump Protester: Who Is Tony Pettway Of Tucson, Arizona? [Video]
Tony Pettway is one black Donald Trump supporter who is getting plenty of interest due to the way that Pettway reacted to an anti-Trump protester — a white man named Bryan Sanders. As seen in the above photo, Tony is an African-American man who took matters into his own hands as Pettway punched and kicked the anti-Donald Trump protester as Bryan was being escorted out of the violent Trump rally. The below video from the Associated Press shows Tony attacking the white protester, as Sanders allegedly held a sign with Trump’s face emblazoned with KKK or some other writing across the visage. [Update: According to CNN, Bryan had no connection to the person behind him wearing a KKK hood.]
Warning: The below video of Pettway attacking Sanders at the Trump rally in Arizona might be disturbing to some viewers.
That YouTube video was uploaded on March 20, and describes Tony’s actions in Tucson on March 19.
“A young protester got knocked down and kicked several times by a Donald Trump supporter [Pettway], all while being escorted out of the Republican presidential front-runner’s rally in Tucson on Saturday evening. (March 19)”
Another video of the fight between Pettway and Sanders at the Trump rally was uploaded to Twitter on March 19 by Alex Satterly. In her popular video’s description, Alex describes that she simply attended the Trump rally in order to witness firsthand how “crazy” the Trump rally would become — and she wasn’t disappointed, after recording Pettway’s assault.
As reported by Tucson News Now, Pettway is a 32-year-old man who was arrested for his actions against Sanders. The reaction from social media about Tony’s attack on Sanders shows that most folks find it odd to see a black Trump supporter attack a white anti-Trump protester so violently. Many of the attacks shown from Trump rallies prior to the Trump melee that occurred at the Tucson Convention Center Saturday afternoon feature white Trump supporters clashing with black anti-Trump protesters, or anti-Trump protesters of other races.
What’s confusing is that Sanders was an anti-Trump protester who was accompanied by a woman sporting a white Ku Klux Klan hood — which could be a statement about Trump’s accused allegiance with certain white supremacist organizations that Trump took time to denounce, such as an approval from David Duke.
As reported by the Inquisitr, Trump’s ex-wife — Ivana Trump — once admitted that Donald kept a book of Hitler’s speeches by his bedside and studied them.
Meanwhile, on Twitter and Facebook, people are posting their thoughts about the black man who is Tony attacking a white anti-Trump protester. Some are calling Pettway varying names, while others are tying Pettway’s Facebook page to that of a man named “Tony Pettway” — who appears in Navy military outfits. These claims have not been verified by police, who haven’t released the mugshot of Pettway to the press yet, but that hasn’t stopped Twitter users from releasing their own versions of mugshots of Tony. [Update: Pettway is an airman — not a Naval man — assigned to the Tucson Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, reports KVOA.]
Hey, black dude at #TrumpRally in #Tuscon who brutalized protester was right beside me. https://t.co/eRxHRjD2vN pic.twitter.com/d0XiE1S6z3
— Johnny Silvercloud “The Downtown Defenestrator” (@JohnnySilverclo) March 20, 2016
Meanwhile, Sanders related his experience with Pettway after the attack.
“I was being escorted out of the building, I had that in my right hand a peace sign up. A guy grabbed the sign out of my right hand and sucker punched me. Then [Pettway got on] top of me and hit me several more times.”
A search for Tony Pettway on Twitter results in a variety of reactions to Pettway punching the anti-Trump protester.
“Wonder if Trumps gonna pay his legal fees.”
“For all you racists out there, figure this one out…”
Searching for Tony Pettway on Facebook turns up similar reactions to the violent video. Some wonder if Pettway was a plant at the Trump rally, as if to show that black people can be fervent Trump supporters as well as whites.
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[Photo by AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin]
