Man arrested for allegedly assaulting people at Presidents’ Day protest in SLC, victims speak

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A man was arrested after he allegedly assaulted four people during a large protest in downtown Salt Lake City on Feb. 17. ABC4.com spoke to several people who said they witnessed the alleged assaults or were assaulted at the protest.

Michael Christensen, 38, was arrested on four counts of assault, one count of use or possession of drug paraphernalia, one count of lewdness, and one count of open container in public. He is accused of using pepper spray on four people who were participating in the protest.

According to the Salt Lake City Police Department, a preliminary investigation revealed Christensen had “started an argument with several people randomly.” He is accused of “interfering with the event,” police said.

“The motive of this alleged assault is unknown, but officers do not have any information at this time to suggest the Christensen was a counter-protestor or that this incident was targeted,” SLCPD said in a press release.

Detective Michael Ruff, public information officer with SLCPD, told ABC4.com that event organizers had reached out to the police department before the demonstration.

“Fortunately, the injuries were minor — treated by medical personnel as well as witnesses on the scene,” Ruff said.

SLCPD said police first responded to the scene around 4:30 p.m. after getting reports that protesters had been pepper sprayed. ABC4.com spoke with several people who said they were pepper sprayed at the incident, as well as some witnesses.

Travis Hysell and his wife, Brandi Hysell, were both sprayed. Julia Graff was another protester who said she was sprayed, telling ABC4.com that she went to urgent care on Tuesday to make sure the pepper spray was fully out of her eyes.

Anna Graff, Julia’s older sister, said she was “march buddies” with a person in a motorized wheelchair at the front of the march.

Anna said a man “came running off the side of the sidewalk” and tried to shove the protester in the wheelchair in an apparent attempt to tip them over. Anna said she alerted other protesters to the incident, which is when Travis said he and Brandi followed after the suspect to try and get a video of the suspect.

Travis said he went with Brandi because he “didn’t want her to be assaulted” and asked the suspect to turn around so the couple could see his face.

“He pulled out pepper spray — no warning — probably a foot from my face, sprayed me, and swung around as he sprayed,” Travis Hysell said.

Julia said she was also recording the suspect, and that she got pepper sprayed after the suspect made eye contact with her. She said after she was sprayed, she was just thinking about how she got the suspect’s face on camera.

“It only got in my right eye, and… weirdly enough, I felt very safe, because I had met some of the people who were around me,” Julia said. “I knew that if things got even worse, they would have stood up and either moved me out of the way or dealt with the guy. And they did.”

Gonzalo Barragan witnessed the incident and expressed his gratitude to the staff of a local restaurant who let affected protesters come in to clean up. Brandi said she kept following the suspect until other people tackled him and “held him for police.”

“He made these choices. I hope he faces the consequences of his actions and never does it again,” Julia said.

Michael Christensen was booked into the Salt Lake County Metro Jail on the aforementioned charges. Officials found a “sharp-edged weapon” in Christensen’s possession, as well as drug paraphernalia and alcohol. It was later found that he had active warrants out for his arrest.

Dennis Dolan and Benjamin Bailey contributed to this report.