(La Porte, IN) - A man quickly subdued by police is accused of physically assaulting a President Trump protester during a demonstration Saturday in downtown LaPorte.

 

Brian Foster, 45, was formally charged Monday in La Porte Superior Court 3 of battery and two other misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct and public intoxication.

 

According to LaPorte Police, Foster was a passenger in a vehicle driving past the demonstration outside the courthouse at Lincolnway and U.S. 35.

 

He allegedly yelled at one of the demonstrators, who was standing on a sidewalk holding an American flag hanging upside down from a pole.  An upside down flag means America in distress.

 

Foster demanded the man turn the flag the right way, but when the demonstrator refused, he asked the driver to stop the vehicle so he could step out.

 

Police said Foster approached the 38 year old man holding the flag and, during a verbal exchange, punched him in the face. Both men grabbed each other and fell to the pavement along the edge of the curb on the U.S 35 side of the intersection.

 

Several demonstrators were trying to remove Foster from the victim, when two officers monitoring the protest from across the street called for assistance and ran over.

 

Two officers, with help from a third, lifted Foster up off the pavement and placed him in handcuffs.  Foster was escorted a few hundred feet on foot to the La Porte County Jail where he was given a portable breathalyzer test after an officer detected an odor of alcohol.

 

The victim, Blake Boardman of La Porte did not have any obvious signs of injury, but did complain of some pain from the cheek and temple on the left side of his face. Boardman said he was also experiencing pain from Foster stepping on his foot during the confrontation.

 

“That’s about it,” he said.

 

Boardman said the demonstration, a week after protests against the president were held nationwide, was nearly over and went peacefully until the conflict.