An ‘Antifa’ Professor Faces 40 . . .

‘Antifa’ Professor Facing 40 Years in Prison for Assault Claims … Victimhood?

Three months ago, Eric Clanton was charged with multiple felonies after video evidence led police to arrest him for attacking Trump supporters at a rally in Berkeley. Internet sleuths at the 4chan forum identified Clanton, who taught philosophy at a California community college, as the masked “antifa” protester who attacked Trump supporters with a U-shaped bicycle lock (click here to see the affidavit) and inflicted serious injuries. Clanton could face up to 40 years in prison if convicted, but claims that he is actually the victim:

Eric Clanton, formerly of Diablo Valley College, alleges the Berkeley PD charged him with assault with a deadly weapon based on “far right forum posts” and “unverified youtube videos.”
In an online statement, Clanton wrote “Dealing with an unintelligible internet force smearing and threatening me online was not easy, and created stress to say the least, but I had every expectation that very few people would take them seriously, especially considering the character and credibility of their sources.
“However, five weeks later the Berkeley police smashed into two houses, held guns to peoples’ heads, handcuffed, verbally abused, and stole the belongings of over a dozen people including books and zines.”

Poor baby. It might have been more instructive if they'd hit him on the head with billy clubs repeatedly in the process.

Well, Clanton is entitled to his day in court, but my hunch is that he’ll accept a plea bargain rather than to risk a court trial and a guilty verdict.

Calling him a “terrorist” is premature, of course, as Clanton is only an alleged terrorist unless and until he is found guilty. Even our “far right forum posts” should have journalistic standards. We wouldn’t want to start imitating “fake news” operations like CNN, would we?

It couldn't happen to a nicer guy, allegedly.