Man pepper sprayed Palestine supporters at Fresno protest. Will he face a trial?
Ahmad Qutami testified Thursday that when he and two friends attended a pro-Palestine rally at River Park in 2021 he hoped to raise awareness about the violence in the region.
Instead, he and his friends were confronted by an angry man who is accused of assaulting them with pepper spray.
The alleged assailant, Brian Lee Turner, 64, is charged with three felony counts of using tear gas against Qutami, 21, and his friends. Turner also faces a hate crime enhancement.
During Turner’s preliminary hearing Thursday, Qutami testified that on the day of the May 15 rally about 200 people gathered in the area of Blackstone and Nees avenues. People were chanting, carrying signs and waving Palestinian flags.
At one point, Qutami said he and his two friends, Faisal Alqatami and Faisal Aboelrish, 20, were in a car at the intersection of Blackstone and Nees, honking and waving a Palestinian flag, when Turner and his wife pulled up next to them.
Qutami testified that as Turner approached, the trouble began.
“He was staring at us and shaking his head,” Qutami said. “Then he started basically cussing us out, saying he doesn’t support Palestine and we are going to kill all the Palestinians, and I started cussing him out.”
A video taken by Qutami shows Turner yelling at them as the Palestinian flag is being waved near him.
Turner’s attorney Mark Kapetan asked Qutami if the flag was being waved aggressively at his client. He said it wasn’t.
Qutami said Aboelrish, who was in the backseat holding the flag, opened his door and put one foot on the ground when Turner began spraying them.
“I told him I’m recording you and he kept pepper spraying me, it burned my face,” Qutami said. “I had glasses on but it still dripped into my eyes. It was hard to breath and I ended up in the hospital that night.”
Kapetan presented the incident from another viewpoint.
Video from a security camera taken from a nearby building in River Park shows the two cars pulling up next to each other. Aboelrish is seen wildly waving his flag toward Turner’s car and then getting out momentarily, before being pulled back in by someone in the car.
After using his pepper spray, Turner begins to pull away. The video shows Aboelrish getting out of the car he is in and running after Turners car. Aboelrish testified that he was trying to get the car’s license plate number.
The preliminary hearing continues Friday in Dept. 74. Judge Alvin Harrell III will decide if there is enough evidence to put Turner on trial.
