Earlier this month, on February 7th, an armed white supremacist group waving swastika-emblazoned flags, sporting all-black clothing and red masks staged a hate demonstration on a highway overpass between Lincoln Heights and Evendale. While some local residents organised armed patrols in order to protect the peace, no one was fortunately harmed during the incident. Now, however, new bodycam footage from Evendale police has come to light and it reveals an Evendale police officer interacting, and even offering to help, one of the neo-Nazi demonstrators.
As reported by local TV news outlet WLWT, the initial bodycam footage shows the Evendale police shepherding the neo-Nazi demonstrators into the back of a white u-haul in order to drive them off the bridge. Five minutes later, though, the same police officers can be seen liaising with the same group of Nazis outside of a local school.
Essentially, one of the Nazis has left his service dog behind on the bridge, and is asking the officers if they can go back to retrieve it for him. “If the dog in there is cool with me driving it to you guys, then I can go and get it.” the law enforcement official says to the Nazi. “It’s my service animal, that’s why I need to go back there and get it.” replies an unmasked white supremacist wearing a black sweatshirt. One of the other neo-Nazis on the u-haul asks him to put his mask on, and to this, he responds, “I don’t give a f*** about my face right now, dude.”
The officer then asks the neo-Nazi to take off his black jumper, and offers to drive the man back to the overpass, where the hate demonstration took place. You can hear one of the white supremacists say, “Thank you. God bless you, dude.” After a short back and forth, the officer declares, “Let’s go grab it.” before heading back to his police cruiser. According to Sheree Paolello from WLWT, both the Evendale officer and the neo-Nazi drove back to the overpass in the remaining footage.
While no one was arrested during the neo-Nazi hate demonstration in Lincoln Heights and Evendale, a swastika-emblazoned flag was burnt by locals in a sign of solidarity against the fascist protestors.
