Last Updated on February 17, 2022
A man who was caught on film brandishing a chainsaw while berating Black Lives Matter protesters in a racist rant has been released from jail.
KRGV reports that “Daniel Peña, 44, of McAllen was released from the Hidalgo County jail at 3:17 a.m. Sunday” after he apparently paid bond.
Peña was seen waving around a chainsaw while yelling racial slurs at protesters in a popular video that went viral on Twitter with various corners of social media erupting in raucous laughter over the middle-aged man’s antics.
He received one count of assault, a Class A misdemeanor, and four counts of deadly conduct, another Class A misdemeanor, according to KRGV.
Peña’s bond was set at $17,000, with $5,000 being assigned to his assault charge and $3,000 for each of his counts four counts of deadly conduct.
The below tweet contains the footage of Peña’s chainsaw-wielding rant, featuring graphic language.
Downtown McAllen pic.twitter.com/kT2AwxTuKr
— Edson Grim (@TheHousePlug_) June 5, 2020
Although many of the protesters were there to protest police brutality, for many the first reaction was to call the police. Calls for the authorities to press charges for the man’s actions became popular before his arrest.
One person commented, “Dude is crazy, but I find it kind of ironic that these protestors first reaction to any hostility is to call the police. The same police that they say are the problem. Am I the only one who sees this? I’ve seen it in multiple scenarios the last couple of weeks.”
However, another person tweeted: “This is why we’re protesting. This insidious, destructive racism goes far beyond the cops. And the tragic thing is we can’t call the cops on this man at this time because he shares their racist beliefs. We can’t be sure the cops would do the right thing.”
“Narrator: And just like that, one man with a chainsaw defeated the army of beta males who were masquerading as noble warriors, without shedding a single drop of blood,” joked a third.
Another video from the past week’s protesting saw a disgruntled older man brandish a Wolverine-like claw knife contraption at BLM protesters. Those protesting police brutality were talking about calling the police on the unhinged man.
