Merritt also spoke out against a viral a 5-second video clip that some white supremacists have been saying shows Harris attacking Crews with a pipe.

“The incident that Deandre was involved

Merritt also spoke out against a viral a 5-second video clip that some white supremacists have been saying shows Harris attacking Crews with a pipe.

“The incident that Deandre was involved in, showed him [Crews] as the aggressor, driving his pole into [counterprotester] Corey Long, the sharp end of his flag pole. Deandre responded to that defensively, which is an affirmative defense to the charges filed against him,” Merritt told The Root.

“If you look at the video, he doesn’t strike anybody, he never actually makes contact. The level of the charges they filed state that he would have had to [have] caused serious bodily harm, or intended to maim him or kill him. These are the same charges they filed against the men who attacked Deandre. The injuries are not a felony assault by any stretch and are not consistent with the injuries reported to the magistrate,” Merritt added.

In an interview, an official with the Charlottesville Police Department said they were investigating Crews’ allegations and were surprised by the magistrates charges.

“We were not expecting this. We were expecting to do our own investigation into the man’s allegations,” Charlottesville Police Detective Sgt. Jake Via told the Washington Post.