Texas State University students arrested for stealing another student's MAGA hat

Another MAGA hat incident. This one wouldn’t have amounted to much except the hat-stealing student did this in front of campus police and then refused a police request to return the hat. Three other protesters got carried away trying to get tough with the police.

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The incident started Wednesday morning when a student named Tyler walked over to talk to some left-wing protesters. The protesters were out that morning because a group of pro-free speech bikers called the Texas Nomads were supposedly coming to campus. But the bikers never showed up. From Campus Reform:

The biker group had planned a protest at Texas State University over the student government’s failed attempt in April to ban the conservative group Turning Point USA from campus, the Austin Statesman reported. According to a Wednesday statement from the university, Texas Nomads SAR never showed.

As the conversation between Tyler M. and the leftist protesters continued, a crowd gathered around them, Tyler M. told Campus Reform…

Tyler M. said that as bystanders tried to quell the tension, “that’s when I felt someone kind of come up behind me and kind of grab my hat, lift it up, and try to run away.”…

The Texas State student said police later approached the student who was holding his hat and asked her to give it back. Tyler M. said she “hesitated at first but then she did drop it and as soon as the hat fell on the floor [sic] she kicks it.”

And that’s when Tyler started filming. It looks like the young woman in the grey top is the one refusing to release the hat. The video follows the hat across the ground and when the camera turns back around, police are arresting a second person dressed in a black hoodie. I honestly can’t tell if that person is a man or a woman. Someone off camera asks what happened and another voice (maybe Tyler) says the protester “hit the police.” Meanwhile, another protester is shouting and crying about the arrest of her friend.

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The police march everyone to the police station and the hysterical woman is now shouting at Tyler “Why are you here?!” He’s there as a witness of course.

Finally, police get everyone inside and then a third protester starts screaming at a policeman in plain clothes, “Don’t f***ing touch me!” Of course, policemen are allowed to touch you if you lose control and start bodying up to a cop in a police station. She gets arrested too. The fourth arrest happened outside the station after this clip ends.

Texas State University Police Chief Laurie Clouse released a statement Thursday explaining what happened:

The incident that led to the arrests began when one student took a hat off another student’s head and fled. Police officers quickly interceded and directed the student to drop the stolen property. The student refused multiple directives and was then detained with the intention of being given a ticket for theft. The student was later arrested after providing a false identity to the police. Another student ran to the officers during this incident and began to interfere. After refusing to comply with the officers’ directions, this student was arrested for interference with public duties. When the students were escorted into the police department, other students followed and one additional student was arrested in the police department lobby for interference. A fourth student was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct outside the police department.

Although the investigation is ongoing, the initial review indicates that the officers involved acted appropriately with the goal of preventing further escalation. When a theft occurred in plain view, they were right to act. I understand it’s difficult to watch the arrests on social media, however, the officers were there to protect all of our students. We expect our students to obey the law.

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It’s a lot of unnecessary drama over a hat. I’m sure the police had better things to do than arrest emotionally incontinent students trying to show off in front of their friends. But as you can see above, they handled it professionally and only arrested people who came at them.

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