A preacher and anti-abortion activist was assaulted by Milwaukee Riverside University High School students as he demonstrated outside of the school at dismissal time Monday afternoon. Body camera footage provided by preacher Nicholas Heald shows several Riverside staff members standing idly by, neither helping Heald after he was punched in the face nor making any attempt to stop his attackers. Heald says a security officer eventually pulled the students off of him.
Heald says he suffered a concussion and has no memory of the attack.
"After preaching for a time to the crowd that had gathered there in front of the entrance of the school, one of the students punched me in the face so hard that I fell into the street," Heald said. "While on the ground both the student who punched me and the guy standing next to him continued the attack until a security officer got them to back off. The second assailant appeared to stomp my head to the ground once or twice from the body cam footage, which is likely how I received my concussion and memory loss from the whole incident."
While he was on the ground, Heald's camera footage shows several Riverside High School staff members standing just a few feet from him yet refusing to help in any way. After getting to his feet, Heald resumed preaching as a siren is heard in the background of his video.
"After I got back up on my feet and began preaching again, one of the faculty members, Jeff, turned on the siren on his megaphone to drown out the preaching," Heald said. "He was standing right by both attackers as they began the assault and showed no surprise or concern about the assault taking place right in front of him."
Riverside High School did not respond to a request for comment about the incident.
A spokesperson for Heald's group tells "The Dan O'Donnell Show" that she is disgusted by the school's indifference to a violent assault.
"The teachers were standing right there and did nothing as Nicholas was beaten," she said. "That is just disgusting."
Heald and another activist at Riverside called 911 to report the assault and the Milwaukee Police Department is investigating.