BLM Protestor Saved Counter-Protestor

The picture shows a black man carrying what seems to be an injured white man through a crowd. But is it what it appears?

After the image went viral on social media, news sites including CNN and BBC located the hero.

Patrick Hutchinson said that he could tell that the situation “wasn’t going to end well” without the help of him and his friends. He said, "I scooped him up into a fireman’s carry and marched him out."

Hutchinson was taking part in a peaceful anti-racism Black Lives Matter protest in London when far-right counter-protestors led to altercations between the groups. Hutchinson and his friends saw one such altercation at the top of stairs at Southbank Centre. Noticing that one right-wing counter-protestor had received a head injury and was lying in the fetal position, Hutchinson and his friends "rushed in to stop him from getting trampled." In doing so, he said, "they created a barrier around him, and I was the last one to come in. I scooped him up into a fireman's carry and marched him out with the guys around me, protecting me and shielding me and protecting this guy from getting any further punishment."

Hutchinson compared his intervention to the lack of police intervention given to George Floyd, an African-American man who died after a police officer pressed his knee into his throat for several minutes. He said that Floyd "would be alive today” if other officers had intervened. "Just because somebody's up to no good, doesn't mean you have to kill them," he said.

Video evidence posted on social media and gathered by news sites including CBS further show the events leading up to Hutchinson’s heroic intervention.