PERSON: Hayden Williams

Hayden Williams, a member of the conservative group Turning Point USA, was assaulted on the campus of UC Berkeley. The attack was caught on video and police are hoping to identify the suspect.

A conservative student and member of Turning Point USA was punched in the face during an assault caught on video at the University of California Berkeley. The student was protesting with other members of the right-wing group when they were confronted by an unidentified man. During the altercation, the man attacked the UC Berkeley student, striking him multiple times, videos show.

The student, Haydon Williams, suffered an eye injury during the incident, according to a photo posted to social media by his friends on Thursday. The UC Berkeley police are investigating and have asked for the public’s help in identifying the suspect in the assault. The incident occurred on the afternoon of February 29. No arrests had been made as of the evening of February 21.

Williams and other members of TPUSA were “tabling” in the Upper Sproul Plaza when the incident occurred. They were passing out pamphlets and information about their group in hopes of recruiting new members. They were also holding signs related to the Jussie Smollett controversy. One of the signs shown in social media postings included the phrase, “This is MAGA country,” which Smollett, an openly gay black actor who stars on the Fox TV show “Empire,” claimed his attackers said to him during an alleged hate crime in Chicago.

Police have since arrested Smollett on a felony charge accusing him of falsifying a police report and say evidence showed the actor fabricated the attack as a “publicity stunt” because he wanted to make more money. Another sign held up by the Berkeley students during the TPUSA event said, “hate crime hoaxes hurt real victims.”

The altercation was recorded at two different angles. The first angle shows the incident from a bystander’s perspective.

— heavy.com