A former professor who violently attacked seven supporters of President Donald Trump with a bike lock at a Berkeley free speech rally that turned riotous last August will receive only three years of probation as part of a plea deal, it was reported Thursday.
Eric Clanton, a 29-year-old former ethics professor at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, California, was captured on video violently smashing a Trump supporter’s head with a U-lock bike lock last summer.
His victim fell to the ground, dazed and covered in blood.
Clanton entered into a plea agreement on Wednesday for a misdemeanor battery charge, and all felony charges against him were dismissed, according to a piece in Breitbart. A charge against him for wearing a mask during the assault was also dropped as a result of the plea deal.
Ironically, back when he was teaching, Clanton’s academic focus was on “restorative justice from an anti-authoritarian perspective,” according to a Rolling Stone article last year.
“In a detail that provoked the chat board’s sardonic ire,” that publication noted, “his work encompassed ‘restorative justice from an anti-authoritarian perspective.'”
Court documents revealed Clanton struck at least seven people in the head at the Berkeley free speech rally on April 15, 2017, Hot Air, Breitbart, and other outlets reported. One of his victims had a head laceration that required five staples to fix.
Clayton posted an online statement on Aug. 16, 2017, in which claimed he was the victim. “On April 19th I began being targeted by a dedicated swarm of internet trolls known for spewing racism, xenophobia, and misogyny onto the web,” he wrote.
And Eric Clanton just got 3 years probation and $250 fine and a simple battery misdemeanor charge for nearly killing a trump supporter with a bike lock….pathetic!
— WeR1weRall4merica (@WeRall4merica) August 8, 2018
Seemingly upset that there was evidence of his crime on the internet (he called them “unverified YouTube videos”), Clanton continued, “When I was interviewed at the police station, detective Hong had the nerve to say to me, ‘The internet did the work for us.’ My case threatens to set a new standard in which right-wing extremists can select targets for repression and have police enthusiastically and forcefully pursue them.”
Did he actually forget who attacked whom with a heavy metal bike lock?
He then bashed the police, writing, “This is just one example of the police doing everything in their power to facilitate and to legitimize the violence and the rhetoric of the so-called Alt-Right …”
Eric Michael Clanton, the Ethics Instructor / Restorative Justice Explorer / Bike-Lock Batterer, was sentenced to 3 years of probation today (plus 4 days' time served) on a misdemeanor battery charge. No felony record and no admission of guilt. @popehat @associatesmind pic.twitter.com/O9AtnjfQ1U
— Virgil Abt (@abtnatural) August 8, 2018
Clanton was initially charged with four counts of felony assault, and during a search of his home, investigators found documents linking him to local Antifa groups, noted Berkeleyside. Investigators also found bike locks and clothing that were similar to the items he used in the assault video published online.
Cellphone tower data placed Clanton close to the location of the assaults on the date they took place, further bolstering a case of felony assault, said Breitbart.
Related: Leftist Professors Defend, Celebrate Antifa Violence
Currently, there is speculation on social media that the plea deal was made in exchange for information on Bay area Antifa members — but there’s been no official statement to confirm this.
(See video of the victim’s injuries after the horrific assault below — warning, some graphic images.)
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