A man allegedly captured on video tearing down placards from a Des Moines bridge that had criticized President Donald Trump has been charged with assault and fifth-degree criminal mischief, according to Des Moines Police.

Footage of the incident, recorded during rush hour Aug. 12, shows a man crossing from the roadway onto the pedestrian side of the 56th Street overpass above Interstate 235.

In the video, the man can be seen ripping the placards off the bridge, each carrying a single letter spelling “TRUMP = HITLER”, that had been fastened to the bridge railing with bungee cords.

Police have filed misdemeanor charges against Bradley Jay Nall, 68, in connection with the incident. A person identifying himself as Nall started a GoFundMe page that references the bridge incident and calls for “SUPPORT FOR PATRIOT STANDING UP FOR TRUMP.”

The page had raised $240 from seven donations as of Aug. 20.

A video of the altercation protest organizer Heather Ryan posted on social media has since been viewed more than 500,000 times.

Ryan told the Des Moines Register that before the incident, the demonstration had been calm.

“We only got six people flipping us the bird. That’s pretty darn good,” Ryan said.

But tensions escalated when the man, later identified as Nall, approached the protesters, she said.

“He was yelling, 'What are you gonna do? What you gonna do? Who’s gonna stop me, huh? Who’s gonna stop me?'” she said. “It was terrifying. … It was like nothing I’ve ever experienced.”

In the video, protestors and the man identified as Nall can be seen shouting back and forth and exchanging curse words.

Ryan said social media users and a license plate check helped identify the man, and she and another protestor went to authorities to press charges.

In a video she posted Aug. 13, Ryan filmed herself leaving a Des Moines police station holding a case card and saying, “simple assault charges filed.” She added in the video, “I did not know until today that if somebody comes up on you aggressive and ready to punch you out, that’s assault.”

The Register attempted to contact Nall, but a number associated with him had been deactivated. And messages on the GoFundMe site have gone unanswered.

The post on GoFundMe says: “I didn’t put my hands on anyone, I took the signs down. I am just an ordinary working man who took a stand against people who want to try to slander President Trump's name and malign him with Adolf Hitler.”

In their news release, Des Moines Police said the two people who came forward to press charges reported that Nall "aggressively approached the group with the intent to tear down the signs" before he “pushed a sign that one victim was holding, striking her in the head.”

The department said it is continuing its investigation.

“They're harassing me, my job, and my family as well as completely innocent people who had old phone numbers and addresses of mine because the lunatics were trying to doxx me," the GoFundMe posting said.

In a video update posted Aug. 14, Ryan said a detective assigned to the case told her the man had requested a meeting with protestors to apologize.

“He wanted a face-to-face interaction to apologize in exchange for us dropping the charges,” she said. “But I’m just not interested.”

Ryan said the group had displayed similar protest signs on Des Moines bridges before and will continue to protest.

Nick El Hajj is a reporter at the Register. He can be reached at nelhajj@gannett.com. Follow him on X at @nick_el_hajj.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: A man ripping down anti-Trump signs from a Des Moines overpass sparks charges

Reporting by Nick El Hajj, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register

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