Alleged Attacker at Charlottesville “Unite the Right” Rally Faces Battery Charges in Gainesville After Woman Reports Sexual Violence
A man who reportedly attended the Charlottesville, Virginia “Unite the Right” rally in 2017 and attacked a man while wearing a white helmet has been arrested in Gainesville, Florida after reportedly committing sexual violence.
Brett Barrouquere, Hatewatch Staff
Alachua County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) deputies booked Alek Rhyne Hyer, 44, into the Alachua County Jail Wednesday on misdemeanor battery charges after a woman reported that he sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions.
Hyer was charged with two counts of misdemeanor battery, one occurring in the jurisdiction of ACSO, and the other occurring in jurisdiction of the Gainesville Police Department (GPD). According to police, Hyer made nonconsensual sexual contact with the victim and admitted to doing so.
Under Florida Statutes, acts of sexual assault or molestation against victims exceeding the age of consent are generally charged as misdemeanor battery if the act involves groping over clothing and doesn't constitute nonconsensual penetration or union with a sexual organ.
The Alachua County Jail is holding Hyer on a $10,000 bond.
In 2008, Hyer was sentenced to three years in prison for aggravated assault with intent to commit a felony. Notably, the offense occurred over seven years prior to his sentencing.
Battery of DeAndre Harris:
In August 2017, hundreds on the far-right marched in Charlottesville, Virginia in opposition to the city removing commemorations of the confederacy. The march was dubbed the “Unite the Right” rally.
DeAndre Harris, a Black man, was assaulted and/or battered by several men at the “Unite the Right” rally who have been identified as white supremacists. According to the Washington Post, “Several minutes before noon, police declared an unlawful assembly and ordered everyone to leave the area. As Harris and other counterprotesters walked up Market Street, he saw a friend being struck in the chest with the tip of a heavy wooden flagpole. He swung the Maglite, intending, he testified later, to hit the flagpole. But he wound up striking the head of Harold Crews, a North Carolina lawyer and state chairman of a white-nationalist group called the League of the South. Seconds later, Harris was pepper-sprayed — and quickly sensed he had become a target. So he fled into the parking garage adjacent to the Charlottesville police department, pursued by the pack of white supremacists. All it took was about 10 seconds. After the beating, Harris needed eight staples to close a gash on his scalp. His left wrist was broken, a front tooth was chipped, and he was covered with cuts and bruises.”
Harris was charged with assault after Crews sought a warrant. Judge Robert Downer later acquitted Harris after finding that he acted with defensive intentions rather than intent to harm Crews.
A group of six men violently beat DeAndre Harris in a parking garage next to the Charlottesville Police Department on August 12, 2017. (Video: Twitter/ChuckModi1)
In March 2019, Hatewatch reported that they and “online volunteers used photos from the August 2017 event as well as Discord chat logs leaked by Unicorn Riot to identify the man in the [white] Pro-Tec helmet as 36-year-old Alek Rhyne Hyer of Gainesville, Florida… Footage shows Harris being knocked to the ground as a man previously known only as ‘White Helmet’ emerges from the back of the melee and swings his flagpole down on Harris’ skull… ‘White Helmet’ was later photographed at the scene of the beating having bandages applied to a head wound by Michael Tubbs, [League of the South] chief of staff. In the aftermath of the rally, Hyer shared to a since-leaked Discord thread: ‘i got hit in the head with pipe : can’t wait to explain this to my boss at work,’ and explaining that his injuries included ‘stitches and [a] broken cheekbone.’”
According to Hatewatch, Hyer showed interest in the “Proud Boys” group and “also took part in trying to raise money for Andrew Anglin and his neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer in Discord chats. Several times in July 2017 he lobbied other posters to send money to Anglin to get the site up and running.”
“Hyer has not been charged in relation to the Harris beating,” Hatewatch reported.
Four individuals were convicted of malicious wounding against Harris:
- Jacob Scott Goodwin - Sentenced to eight years in prison
- Alex Michael Ramos - Sentenced to six years in prison
- Tyler Watkins Davis - Sentenced to two years and one month in prison
- Daniel Patrick Borden - Sentenced to 20 year suspended sentence (three years and ten months of actual incarceration).
