Raphael (left) confronted the bad citizen

On November 16, at about 2 p.m., a 20-year-old Caucasian male started screaming and verbally threatening Lake Murray walkers near the 1¾-mile marker along the road that runs around the lake.

According to a few women joggers, he had started his strange behavior around the 2½-mile marker and continued it while walking back to the 1¾-mile marker. A lake staff worker named Raphael, who was driving the service park truck around the lake, was confronted by the young man as he was yelling racial slurs and unkind epithets at walkers and bikers.

Finally, a bicyclist shadowed the man to protect people, advising walkers to turn around and not go by him. The man pushed one woman, Val, who did not heed the biker’s advice. The young man started kicking the park truck and calling Raphael the n. word. He kicked one of the truck headlights out and shattered the driver’s side mirror with his fist.

A crowd of about six people stopped to observe the incident when Raphael asked a few people to call 911. Raphael kept putting his truck in reverse in order to avoid more damage and to keep an eye on walkers until the police arrived.

In the meantime, the agitated man started to run after the service truck and kick it violently. Then, he started to hit a woman and man. Finally, the man hit him back, which caused a bloody wound on the right side of his face. The husband and wife did have a big pit bull, but it did not react to the violence. Later, they told police that the dog was a service dog.

The other Lake Murray visitors kept about 20 yards away from the agitated man. Then, he started asking for a cigarette while calling women “bitches” and insulting men with racial slurs.

Police arrived in about 15 minutes — which seemed more like an hour because of the physically aggressive behavior of the young man, who onlookers thought was either mentally ill or on drugs.

About five SD police officers approached to subdue him. They asked him to kneel so they would not have to taser him. He refused to kneel and screamed and waved his arms aggressively. One of the cops pointed a taser gun at him…

Finally, the two largest police officers grabbed the slight man, one on each side. He did not go peacefully, so they pushed him to the ground and zip-tied his arms behind him. As the officers led him to a cruiser, the spectators all clapped for a job well done.

Officer Chiappone interviewed witnesses extensively to find out what happened. Officer J. Soto said they would probably take the man to the hospital and then to jail.

Raphael, the lake worker, was happy when everyone verified that the young man caused the damages to the city truck.