Larry Lomax started stepping back as soon as he realized the matter was getting out of hand. He must have known he had to protect himself – after all he was a homeless man with a brain injury.
The 24-year-old was at a protest in Baltimore for police brutality victim Freddie Gray.
The incident took place just after 10 PM on May 2 last year after the city had gone into curfew.
However, the clampdown did not deter thousands of demonstrators from taking to the streets to protest the tragic incident.
Lomax was one of them.
Ironically, when dealing with him the police displayed the very kind of excessive force that had caused the protests in the first place.
The entire episode was caught on tape and the video went viral almost immediately.
Lomax is seen approaching police officers at Pennsylvania and North Avenues.
Seconds after the victim moves towards the cops, one of them steps forward and unloads pepper spray onto his face – as soon as this happens he starts stepping back.
In spite of this, he is attacked by several policemen.
One of them pulls him backwards with his hair, as he falls to the ground. Blinded by the pepper spray in his eyes he is then tossed around like a rag doll.
While police charged at the crowds, which included reporters, with batons – Lomax was handcuffed and placed under arrest.
Unable to post bail he spent 26 days behind bars.
Now, a jury has acquitted him of his charges.
Standing outside court, he was clearly ecstatic at the outcome.
When asked why he had actually gone to the protest in the first place he said: “It was too many of us getting killed or getting brutalized by police”.
His attorney Natalie Finegar commented it was an accurate verdict.
According to her, witnesses say Lomax’s behavior that day was civil disobedience more than anything else.
Their concern was that the curfew was no longer necessary and that although it was a citywide embargo, it was being implemented differently depending on the neighborhood.
Watch the video below: