BREAKING: Charlottesville Police Chief Attributes Traumatic Weekend to "Mutually Engaged Combatants"

By Teri Christoph | 6:15 PM on August 14, 2017

The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of RedState.com.

A counter demonstrator uses a lighted spray can against a white nationalist demonstrator at the entrance to Lee Park in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017. Gov. Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency and police dressed in riot gear ordered people to disperse after chaotic violent clashes between white nationalists and counter protestors. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

As is all too often the case these days, the media takes the most sensational piece of an important news story and runs with it. And runs. And runs. And runs. Much to the detriment of the truth.

Here’s some of the truth out of Charlottesville: A military reject with extremist views callously, and without regard for life, plowed his Dodge Charger into a group of counter-protestors gathered in the streets. He killed one protestor, Heather Heyer, and injured scores more. The full weight of the law will surely come down on him.

Here’s the rest of the truth out of Charlottesville: Many of the counter-protestors engaged in reckless and dangerous behavior, as well, throwing chemicals and other objects at the (wrongly-named) Unite the Right crowd. The hate went both ways, and there were many arrests as a result.

Charlottesville Police Chief Al Thomas held a press conference this afternoon, offering important details ignored by the mainstream media. Said the police chief of Saturday’s events:

“The crowd size became increasingly violent with mutually engaged combatants.”

#Charlottesville Police Chief: "The crowd size became increasingly violent with mutually engaged combatants." pic.twitter.com/ud6YtFIheX

— FOX Business (@FoxBusiness) August 14, 2017

This does not lessen the horror of what occurred, of course, and is surely no comfort to the family of Miss Heyer or the others who were injured. But the truth is important, and the truth is that the media has willfully ignored the rest of the story.

The police chief may have taken some of the heat off of President Trump, who condemned the violence on “both sides.” Both sides are guilty of letting their baser instincts get the better of them. But that’s what the fringe does – they eat away at the fabric of our society from the outside edges.

Police Chief Thomas also sent his condolences to Heather Heyer’s family, as well as to the families of the two state police officers who were killed in a helicopter crash while responding to the violence in Charlottesville. A traumatic weekend indeed.