BISMARCK -- Police have arrested a man accused of terrorizing after video caught a masked man cursing at and threatening Dakota Access Pipeline protesters.
Jesse Dean McLain, 33, Bismarck, has been arrested on two counts of terrorizing, both Class C felonies. He appeared Thursday in Burleigh County District Court, where bond was set at $2,000. He was ordered not to have contact with the victims mentioned in orders filed with the court.
He faces five years in prison and a $10,000 fine for each charge.
The charges stem from a confrontation at the Ramada Inn, where two masked men approached a vehicle blocked from driving away from the scene. A live video of the altercation that has been viewed almost 1.4 million times was posted at 4:22 p.m. Monday to the Facebook page of Dean Dedman Jr., also known on social media as Shiye Bidziil. Dedman, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe in South Dakota, confirmed to the Herald the video was shot by him.
The video shows a man in a skull mask approaching Dedman as he sits in a vehicle with a driver identified as “Matt.” Court documents identified him as MSF, who told police he was reluctant to cooperate with police “because he did not want his information published and feared reprisal,” court documents stated.
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The masked man tells Dedman “take your protesting a---- back home.”
"Us North Dakota people are going to f--- you up," the masked man yells in the video before making other threats.
In the video, Dedman yells for people to call the police and repeatedly tells the driver to go, but the driver says he can’t because a gray van was parked in front of their vehicle while a maroon pickup blocked the vehicle from behind.
A second video shot by a hotel guest identified in court documents as Aaron Murphy. As he started recorded the incident, the masked man said “nice phone” as he tried to take Murphy’s device from him, according to charging documents against McLain. Video shows the masked man throwing ice and snow at Murphy as the masked man “began to … walk at (Murphy) menacingly.”
A second masked man was shown in video wearing sunglasses and camouflage attire, but he only was recorded asking Dedman and the driver if they were leaving.
“You going to stop harassing people around here,” the camouflage-wearing man said.
The men eventually sped off, but not before Murphy followed the man with the skull mask to the gray vehicle. The suspect threw snow at Murphy before chasing him around the vehicle, according to court documents. When the suspect drove away, he did so “in a reckless manner,” court documents stated.
Murphy said he felt physically scared that he might be injured or attacked during the confrontation, according to court documents. He felt the camouflaged masked man did not say or do anything threatening, despite his involvement.
Police responded to the incident and spoke with the hotel manager. Officers also reviewed video that captured the altercation and the license plate numbers of the suspects’ vehicles. Investigators determined the gray van was a local service company’s vehicle. The company’s owner told police McLain drives the van. Police showed the owner a picture of the man in the skull mask, and though the owner said it appeared to be McLain, “he wasn’t 100 percent sure,” the court documents said.
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McLain told officers he was surrounded by individuals and attacked but an unknown individual helped him, according to court documents.
He admitted to driving the grey van and being at the hotel that day, though he denied being the masked man.
Police also said McLain’s voice and size matched the attacking man in the video. His goatee also matches facial hair that extended from the bottom of the mask worn by the suspect, according to court documents.
People on social media have suggested the video was staged or faked by Dedman, who has been critical of Dakota Access, and the masked men, but there is no reason to believe that is the case, Officer Pat Renz told the Herald Thursday.
When asked by the Herald if the video was faked, Dedman insinuated the police were involved in orchestrating the attack and he believes “it's a system of a whole corrupted organization.”
Police addressed social media rumors officers were involved in the attacks, stating those rumors have been determined to be false.
The investigation is ongoing.
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