Neo-Nazis marching through the Short North earlier this month didn’t get the warm welcome they were expecting.
The Columbus Division of Police recently released body camera footage capturing the moments leading up to and following their demonstration. The march, which included racial and antisemitic slurs, has drawn condemnation from local and national leaders.
The footage shows officers detaining 11 masked individuals near a Short North residence after reports of an alleged assault during their march. One of the men, identified by CPD as Anthony James Altick of Louisiana, self-identified as the leader of the group and was driving a U-Haul van with the other members seated in the cargo area.
During the initial encounter, the group, identified in a police report as “Hate Club 1844,” was stopped by police on a residential street in the Short North.
Seated on a low wall in someone’s front yard, the group seemed frustrated that the police had stopped them at all.
The officer asked them why they had chosen the Short North and Altick admitted that they were not from the area and didn’t offer a specific reason why they decided to march there.
Altick, who initially refused to share his identification, told the officer that they were simply exercising their First Amendment rights, yelling racial and anti-Semitic slurs at passersby, when they were “attacked” by people.
An unidentified member of the group eventually stood up and stated “Now that things are de-escalated, we’re leaving.” He began walking away and the rest followed, their swastika flags hanging flaccidly behind them as they went.
Shortly after, the police pulled the group over in a rented U-haul cargo van after video showing a member of the neo-Nazis pepper-spraying a crowd in front of Oddfellows Liquor Bar, located at 1038 N. High Street in the Short North.
A member of the group admitted to using pepper spray on a group of people they described as “large Black men” who they claimed were approaching them.
Altick, who has been linked to other hate-related incidents, was arrested in Orlando last year for allegedly hanging antisemitic banners on a city bridge. He is currently facing charges in Florida for that case and is represented by Augustus Invictus, a far-right attorney who spoke at the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
No charges have been filed against the group in connection with the Columbus march, but police say the investigation is ongoing. Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein’s office stated that they are ready to prosecute any charges brought to them by police.
