A Texas park ranger was recently filmed encouraging a crowd of people to practice social distancing measures, compelling one of the individuals to push him into a lake, NBC News reported.
The Austin ranger, who has been identified as Cassidy Zukeran Stillwell, was telling the group to stay 6 feet apart from one another when he was unceremoniously shoved into the water behind him.
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A viral video was captured that depicted the entire event which unfolded on April 30 at Lake Austin.
In the clip, Stillwell can be seen calmly instructing the crowd of onlookers to spread apart from each other, as per ongoing social distancing measures. Although they are not prohibited from entering state parks, they are still required to observe these distancing rules.
“Disperse yourselves,” he says, gesturing at the people with his hands, “You’re not engaging in that six feet of distance with each other.”
For the most part, the crowd appears to be listening to Stillwell and respecting his instructions.
A woman who appears in the frame wearing a backwards baseball cap nods along, while an unseen reveler calls out, “I got you, man, I got you.”
But just a few seconds later, one uncaring individual takes it upon himself to shut the ranger up.
Breaking from the crowd, a man charges towards Stillwell and pushes him backwards into the water.
The ranger slips and begins to fall, but manages to shoot out one of his arms to grab the man who pushed him and pulls him into the water as well.
The crowd of onlookers react with shock at the sight of the two men bobbing in the lake together.
The pair only remain in the water for a few seconds before they both get out, with the pusher running off in one direction and Stillwell silently walking away from the scene in the other.
A Snapchat video taken of the incident was uploaded to Twitter where it has quickly gone viral.
Since it was shared on April 30, the clip has been viewed more than 3.5 million times and has received thousands of comments from outraged viewers.
“Honestly, this video made me so angry,” this user wrote, “He’s literally there for the dumbass’s own safety and that’s how they treat him. This disrespect of these people is too much.”
Most users left comments expressing sympathy for Stillwell, considering how calm and reasonable he appears in the video.
“The ranger was so non threatening,” this user wrote, “I bet this ruined his day.”
Another added, “That’s horrible. You can tell he was being sweet and genuine just telling them to stay 6 feet apart.”
The man who pushed the ranger has now been arrested and identified as 25-year-old Brandon Hicks.
He faces charges of attempted assault on a public servant and damaging city property.
“Brandon’s intentional and reckless action could have caused the Ranger to strike his head on the dock as he was falling, and render himself unconscious in at least 3 feet of water where he could have drowned to death,” the arrest report says, according to local NBC affiliate KXAN .
h/t: NBC News