A West Hollywood couple faces criminal charges after a street confrontation with a Donald Trump-supporting content creator who approached them with their newborn child and made lurid accusations about gay parents and child abuse.
David Vulin, 32, was arrested on suspicion of battery and felony vandalism after punching Ryley Niemi, a 21-year-old self-described “MAGA influencer” with 73,000 Instagram followers, reported the Los Angeles Times.
The April 16 incident began when Niemi, claiming to represent CNN, asked David and Anthony Vulin if they had “heard about the statistics coming out that gay men are much more likely to commit child molestation.” Niemi then called the couple’s adoption of their newborn son “weird.”
Video shows David Vulin shoving Niemi after the initial confrontation. Minutes later, the couple and others caught up with Niemi’s group blocks away. When Niemi expressed concern for the baby’s safety, David rushed forward and punched him multiple times in the back of the head, according to the footage. A $2,000 camera was also damaged during the altercation, the LA Times reported.
However, city officials and community members have questioned whether Vulin should have been arrested. West Hollywood Vice Mayor Danny Hang said the city would likely ask the district attorney not to file charges, characterizing Niemi’s behavior as deliberate provocation for social media purposes.
“What happened to him was unjust. These trolls came to our city and disrupted our way of life and they attacked him for clickbait purposes,” Hang said.
David Vulin explained his reaction to the Times. “I was overwhelmed with the homophobic rhetoric and the dehumanizing language to incite some type of response from us,” he said.
Niemi’s claims lack any evidence.
Niemi, based in Temecula, regularly creates content criticizing the LGBTQ+ community, including clips suggesting transgender people should be “deported” to Venezuela.
The incident has devastated the Vulins’ sense of safety in West Hollywood, the report stated. Both received homophobic messages online and by phone after Niemi posted videos of the encounter. A GoFundMe for their legal defense has raised more than $180,000, while Niemi’s support fund collected just $1,840.
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