Louisville police responded to a call over the weekend in Norton Commons after an altercation caught on video that shows a man confronting a group of people, shoving three young women and grabbing the neck of another.
The man, who has not yet been identified, will face a first-degree strangulation charge, according to a redacted police report released Monday.
The person who posted the video to Louisville’s Reddit.com page on Saturday wrote that the man and a woman he was with confronted the group for failing to follow social-distancing guidelines designed to combat the spread of the coronavirus. Three people who were there at the time of the incident confirmed this account.
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Eighth Division officers responded Friday, according to department spokeswoman Jessie Halladay, and took a report, which was not available Sunday morning. Police initially said the incident occurred Saturday but issued a correction stating it took place a day earlier.
A video taken Saturday night at the Norton Commons amphitheater shows a man confront a group of young adults about social distancing. April 4, 2020 Louisville Courier Journal
When contacted, the individual who posted the video asked not to be identified but said the man and the woman left before the police arrived. The 18-year-old woman whose neck was grabbed was examined at the scene by medical personnel, the individual said, but did not require further treatment.
Halladay said people in Louisville concerned about social distancing — the practice of keeping space between individuals to slow the spread of the coronavirus — should contact police.
"Obviously, we do not advise individuals concerned about social distancing to take matters into their own hands and confront people about it, especially in any physical way," Halladay wrote. "We ask people who are concerned about large gatherings to call 311 or 911 to report their concerns."
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The 27-second video shows a man and a woman confronting a group of young adults at the Norton Commons amphitheater.
The man talks momentarily before walking forward, shoving the young women and then going to the ground and grabbing another woman, who had knocked away the phone from the woman who was with him and was shooting her own video.
The clip cuts off at that point, though an extended video provided to The Courier Journal shows the aftermath, as the man lets go of the woman after about four seconds of contact.
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