Texas man sprays woman with water after she kept yelling ‘white lives matter,’ he says
A video from Texas shows a man spraying a woman with a water hose after she repeatedly yelled ‘white lives matter’ and refused to leave his property, he says.
The video was shared on multiple social media platforms and has garnered more than 400,000 views on Twitter as of Thursday.
The incident happened in Austin Oct. 7, Heavy.com reported.
Ian Doherty said his neighbor has a Black Lives Matter sign in her front yard and that a woman parked in the middle of a street in his neighborhood and screamed “white lives matter” for roughly 30 minutes, according to an Oct. 19 Facebook post.
The woman argued with Doherty’s neighbor for about five minutes before he said he went outside to ask her to stop, KXAN reported.
“She told me where to stuff it,” Doherty told the outlet. “I don’t remember her exact words, but she swore at me, yelled at me, and then I blew it off.”
Ten minutes later — after Doherty said he politely asked her to leave — he grabbed a hose, according to KXAN.
The video shows Doherty wielding a running hose with a sprinkler head attached to the nozzle. Two people can be heard yelling before a woman comes into frame on the right side of the screen.
Doherty and the woman stand a few feet apart and exchange words as the hose runs at Doherty’s side. He then lifts it up and sprays her. The woman charges Doherty who tries to run away while still spraying her.
At one point, the woman tries to grab the hose, but falls down before getting back up and continuing her chase. As the woman gets hold of the hose and falls again, a person behind the camera is heard saying, “Okay, now I think maybe we should call somebody.”
Doherty continues to spray the woman and repeatedly says, “Please get off my property,” as the video ends.
He told Heavy that he ultimately handed the woman the hose and walked back in the house before his neighbor called the police. Doherty said he wasn’t home when police arrived and that they talked to his wife and left after they learned the situation had deescalated.
No charges were filed, KXAN reported.
“I think you have to stand up to bullies and racism, in general,” Doherty told the outlet. “I’m not calling her a racist, I’m not making any attacks against the woman, but she was being antagonistic and a bully, for sure.”
He said the woman ultimately apologized to his neighbor, according to Heavy. Doherty doesn’t know the woman, but said his neighbor has known her for several years.
Homeowners in Texas can legally use force if they “reasonably (believe) the force is immediately necessary to prevent or terminate the other’s trespass on the land or unlawful interference with the property.”
