POUGHKEEPSIE – A man and his father were caught on video at the Tuesday protest in Poughkeepsie where it appears they were trying to instigate an otherwise peaceful protest. Observers claim that two men were at the corner of Bridge and Main Streets yelling racial epithets at protesters and telling them to go home. The story, including the video, can be found here.
One of the men in the video, Raymond Lephew, claims it was a huge misunderstanding.
Lephew maintains that more than two hours before the march, two men in full leather motorcycle riding gear, including helmets, accompanying a woman, approached him and his friends.
Lephew says that the woman offered to pay him and his friends to stay with them throughout the march and participate in civil disobedience after the planned end-time of the rally.
The accused instigator says that the offer made him angry. “I saw the damage that could cause and it made me mad and agitated,” said the 31-year-old Lephew. He claims that he was determined to point them out and warn people that they were looking to cause trouble.
Lephew says he was using a spare phone to record video when he approached them a short time later. “I asked them to take their helmets off” in order to see their faces. Lephew says they became irritated that he was “putting them on Front Street,” and calling them out. A few minutes later, Lephew said he was at Main and Bridge Streets when he saw them marching. At the same time, Lephew’s father, Joe, was approaching the intersection. The younger Lephew says that he started yelling at the bikers, saying, “Go home – you don’t belong here – just go back from where you came from.”
Lephew says that one of the helmeted men approached him and displayed a handgun from inside of his jacket, causing Lephew to draw his pocketknife.” Still holding his phone from earlier, Lephew says a “short” girl came up and stole the phone that had the video, running away into the crowd.
Some protesters and observers surrounded both Lephew men, keeping them away from the march. Seconds later, rocks or pieces of bricks were thrown at Lephew. One struck him in the head, causing a deep wound, and another hit an observer as she tried to calm things down. Lephew was then seen striking one of the “peacekeepers” by punching him in the head. The assailant claims that he doesn’t remember hitting Mr. Robinson, because he was in a completely enraged state of mind. “I don’t remember hitting the man, and I apologize for hitting him,” said Lephew.
In the video, both Lephew and his father threaten to leave, get guns and return, to shoot people. “I was not mad at the protesters,” he said, stressing that he was yelling at the instigators, not the protesters. “We don’t even own any guns,” said Lephew as he continued to apologize. “The trouble I caused doing that, the repercussions, people got hurt – I got hurt – somebody could have lost their lives, and I am very sorry.”
Claiming that he was misunderstood and was yelling at the three people, not the marchers, Lephew continued to apologize for his actions. “I’m sorry to the people that were involved. I’m sorry to the EMTs, the police officers, and the fire department,” he said, acknowledging that the first responders could have been working to keep everyone safe elsewhere along the march. “I am also sorry to my family,” said Lephew who said he has received numerous threats of physical harm from people he does not know.
“I am not a racist. My mother didn’t raise me that way,” he said. When asked to review his actions, he said “I asked for trouble and I got it.”
