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A group of Black Lives Matter protesters trapped a Fox News reporter in his vehicle outside of the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP) on Monday (June 29) after he refused to apologize for shoving a woman protester.
The incident occurred just hours and feet from where two Black teens were shot after reportedly attempting to plow through barricades of the CHOP area.
According to a BLM protester named River who was at CHOP, correspondent Dan Springer pushed a woman at the event, telling her to get back, which prompted her to throw coffee at him. The witness told the Daily Mail that Springer then retreated to an SUV with private armed security guards, who were protecting the car as a group of 50 protesters barricaded the vehicle and demanded he apologize for shoving the woman.
Onlookers say that after 20 minutes the angry crowd reportedly died down and another vehicle pulled up with Springer jumping inside and speeding away.
Nancy Harmeyer, the Vice President of Domestic Bureaus & LA Bureau Chief, FOX News, said in a statement to the Daily Mail that, “While covering the news just outside of Seattle’s CHOP zone this morning, a protestor confronted FOX News Channel correspondent Dan Springer and his crew after overhearing him cancel a live report due to ‘’filthy language’’ in the background.
She continued: “The protestor started yelling at him and threw a cup of coffee in his face and on his jacket. Attempting to de-escalate the situation, the crew returned to their vehicle, which was then surrounded by protestors. Unable to drive away, the crew turned the car off and walked away from the scene. At no point during the situation did the FOX News crew ever physically instigate or retaliate in any way against the protestors.”
According to River, the group was protesting Fox News and Springer after they ran alleged fake news stories about CHOP when the shooting incident occurred.
The Daily Mail reports that numerous witnesses said Springer shoved the woman.
While in his car and trying to wait out the protester’s demand for an apology, Springer was pictured mostly on his cell phone while his hired security guards stood outside the vehicle attempting to negotiate the protesters.
At one point, protesters jumped on the hood of the SUV and placed a barricade in front so Springer couldn’t leave the area.