Denver man arrested after viral ‘No Kings’ rally tripping incident

Editor’s note: The Denver Police Department released a statement Tuesday that Jose Cardenas was not the man who allegedly tripped the screaming man. Cardenas was allegedly the suspect who stole the sunglasses and was arrested on suspicion of theft. The alleged tripper is still unidentified.
The Denver Police Department arrested a man in connection to a viral video circling the internet in which a man was seen yelling slurs at the downtown “No Kings” protest Saturday.
The video — posted by Aaron Parnas on Threads and filmed by Drew Kartos — showed a man yelling homophobic slurs at protestors near Union Station before someone appears to steal his sunglasses. The unidentified man then begins to chase protestors down the street, where he apparently slips and falls on his face.
The man then got up and continued to run, swatting at protestors before a hooded man allegedly tripped him with his foot, causing him to fall to the ground again. The man then got up with an apparent laceration on his face, pushing into more crowds before being told to leave.
The march was moving on 17th Street down to Union Station after the bigger protest at the Capitol, according to Kartos.
Kartos, who was photographing the event, saw the group of older men and got out his video camera.
“They seemed inebriated. I had a feeling something was going to happen,” he told The Denver Gazette. “They were definitely poking and prodding the protest marchers. Most people were kind of moving on, but then you see this kid come up and steal the guy’s glasses.”
After the incident, the protest organizers settled the crowd down and continued the march while police intervened with suspects.
Police later arrested 20-year-old Jose Cardenas in connection to the trip that caused the man to fall. Cardenas was arrested on suspicion of second-degree assault, according to arrest records.
Cardenas allegedly eluded officers to the 1400 block of North Lincoln Street before being arrested.
The unidentified man screaming obscenities at the protestors was not arrested, according to the police department.
“Screaming obscenities would fall under free speech. The victim was not arrested,” a spokesperson from the department told The Denver Gazette Monday.
“Two wrongs don’t make a right,” Kartos said. “At the same time, there’s definitely no place for hate speech or homophobic slurs. It’s very unwise to walk past a demonstration and try to aggravate the participants.”
The protest was one of over 50 “No Kings” demonstrations scheduled across Colorado, and one of hundreds taking place across the country on Saturday. It was the second such protest to take place in Denver this year.
The first “No Kings” rally attracted about 10,000 to 20,000 people. Observers who were at both rallies said Saturday’s protest was at least twice as large.
Authorities arrested 12 people during follow-up demonstrations Saturday.
Some charges include assault to a peace officer and aggravated assault, the department confirmed on Sunday morning.
The Denver Gazette reporters Noah Festenstein and Michael Braithwaite contributed to this report