A video of the incident shows two people in a truck throwing glass bottles toward the women walking on Lincoln Street to the protest at the Colorado Capitol on February 8. The passenger is seen doing a Nazi salute out the window; the victims say the assailants shouted "white power" and "Nazi power" at them before throwing the glass.
David Halverson, 48, was arrested in connection with the incident on Tuesday, February 18. Court records show he was charged with three counts of attempted bias-motivated crime with bodily injury and one count of being an accessory to a crime — all class six felonies. Halverson was released from jail on bond the next day.
Halverson is believed to have been the driver of the truck. The passenger was also arrested but is a minor, so his identity was not released, according to the Denver Police Department.
The arrests come after ten days of intense outcry from the public regarding the attack. The victims say they reported the incident to law enforcement officers at the protest, but they were initially not responsive. The women then posted the video on TikTok, garnering 2.4 million views and sparking an online movement seeking to identify the assailants.
One citizen journalist filmed himself confronting a man who appears to be Halverson after tracking the truck to a Denver home. The man admitted to the attack and to yelling "Nazi power," claiming he did so because someone called him a Nazi (though he said that comment did not come from the women who were attacked).@elbelwest Yesterday, 2/8/2025, two friends and I were walking toward CO state capitol to protest. We had signs under our arms that weren’t visible to read and were dressed in normal attire with no political affiliation. We were talking amongst ourselves while walking when a truck at the stop light across the street from us rolled down their window to yell “f*** you, wh*te power, n*zi power” and do a n*zi salute. One of our friends yelled back to shut up and we kept walking. Moments later, they sped through the light they were stopped at to catch up with us and turned around on this one way street, so we began recording. As you can see in the video, they roll down their window again to throw glass at us and speed off while yelling “wh*te power” and again giving a salute. We tried reporting to Denver police department, but given the glass did not strike us, I am not sure the report will result in any further action. I did want to share this as a warning for pedestrians in Denver and throughout the United States to be extra cautious of their surroundings, especially when close to government buildings. We did not do anything to provoke these people. We are three young, white-passing women, which comes with the privilege of usually not triggering individuals like this. My assumption is they were aware a protest was going on nearby and could tell we supported it because we had signs tucked under our arms. It’s scary to think this was enough to prompt their actions, and I’m disheartened that people feel comfortable (and empowered) to act this way. I’m thankful me and my friends are safe & hope that sharing this can help keep others in our community safe! #denver #colorado #protest @Ween ♬ original sound - El
“I fucked up. I am not a racist," the man said in the video. "I threw the glass, I was driving the truck, and it was never intended to be a hate crime. ...I didn’t even know what the hell was going on. I’m a grumpy old man that was just trying to get through traffic."
The video of the incident shows that Lincoln Street was empty at the time of the attack; the truck even drove backward down the one-way street to get closer to the women.
Before the arrest, the victims told Westword that nothing preceded the attack and that the men immediately started yelling at them after they three got out of their vehicle holding signs with phrases including "deport racists" and "immigrants make America great." They suspect the men were driving around the area looking for protesters to target.
"It was kind of pathetic, two guys going after three girls," one of the victims noted.
Halverson has been arrested a dozen times over the last three decades, largely for misdemeanor offenses except for two felony property crimes in the late '90s, according to records from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. He was most recently charged with threatening assault and disturbing the peace in 2011.
Halverson is next due in court on March 5.
Editor's note: Westword reporter Hannah Metzger is involved in an active DPD case regarding statements Halverson made in response to her original article reporting on the attack.
