Sean Patrick Duff was on his way to see Baby Driver on Sunday when he saw a white man wearing a red armband walking near 3rd Avenue and Pike Street. The man, whose name is still unknown, was being "belligerent" and "Alex Jones-style yelling" at passersby, which began drawing a small crowd, Duff told The Stranger.
One bystander, a white man, approached the neo-Nazi and yelled at him to "get the fuck out of our city." The neo-Nazi then called the man an "ape and threw a banana at him," Duff recalled. Within moments, another man ran from across the street and punched the neo-Nazi in the jaw, knocking him out.
Although he didn't anticipate a physical altercation, Duff said he was "hopeful" that the man donning the Nazi armband would get punched. Duff noted that he was "really high on like 800 mg of THC" and stood back with about a dozen people during the incident. Another bystander caught video of the altercation, and posted it to YouTube, but the service removed the clip for violating "YouTube's policy on harassment and bullying."
Thankfully, World Star Hip Hop has the video:
Some people who hadn't seen the fight initially tried to help the man who was punched, Duff said, but immediately backed off when a member of the crowd told them he was "Nazi trash."
When the man in the armband began to recover, he rolled over onto his hands and knees and reached up to someone for help, but "nobody wanted to help him," Duff said. Soon, police officers patrolling the area arrived to the scene and the crowd dispersed.
"Everyone was so joyous," Duff said. "It was like a bonding for the community."
Representatives from the Seattle Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Buzzfeed News reported that a photo of the man wearing a Nazi armband began circulating in local anti-fascist circles after @BigotBasher posted his photo.
#AntiFascistAlert
Nazi shit head seen on D line headed to downtown #Seattle
Submitter said they were harassing a black man on the bus pic.twitter.com/ianQUnyCsC
— BabyGoose (@bigotbasher) September 17, 2017
UPDATE: The Seattle Police Department wrote a series of tweets about the incident:
Around 4pm Sunday, SPD received reports of a man wearing a swastika armband, instigating fights at 3rd Ave / Pine. (1/3)
— Seattle Police Dept. (@SeattlePD) September 18, 2017
No one else at the scene contacted officers to make a report about the incident.(3/3)
— Seattle Police Dept. (@SeattlePD) September 18, 2017