Illinois man charged with aggravated assault after allegedly threatening Black protesters with bat

An Illinois man was charged with aggravated assault after he was allegedly seen on video threatening a group of Black protesters with a baseball bat last month, local outlet The Daily Herald reported.

Thomas Ruiz, 56, was charged after he was identified by police in an Instagram video showing him wielding a bat and raising his voice at the group, Naperville Police Deputy Chief Jason Arres said Tuesday.

The alleged incident occurred after the demonstrators participated in a downtown protest June 1 and passed by Ruiz’s home in a residential neighborhood while walking back to their car. 

The protest was one of several planned in the city following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died in Minneapolis police custody on Memorial Day.

The video appears to depict a man later identified as Ruiz standing on a street corner, waving a bat.

“It’s curfew right now. I don’t want my town f—ed up,” he is heard saying.

The protesters said they were trying to get to their car so they could leave.

“I love this place. I’ve lived here 20 years, I raised my kids here … I don’t want problems,” Ruiz is heard saying.

According to the outlet, Ruiz was arrested Friday and released on a $2,000 bond.

Arres said that Ruiz was charged with assault despite the fact that there was no physical altercation because he knowingly used a weapon — the bat —  in a way that caused the teens to feel reasonable apprehension that they would be hit.

The Instagram user who posted the video wrote that her daughters and friends were the protesters allegedly targeted in the clip.

“As a mother, the rage I feel is unfathomable,” she wrote. “I hate that they had to experience something like this when they were only practicing their freedom of speech.”

The June 1 protest reportedly turned violent and Naperville police so far have released the names of five people charged with burglary, disorderly conduct, breach of peace, interfering with a police officer, possession of stolen property and theft in connection with events surrounding the demonstration.

One man, 19-year-old Christian Rea, was arrested last month on federal civil disorder charges for allegedly throwing an explosive device at a Naperville police car during the protest, causing a panicked crowd of protesters to run in all directions.