A man caught on camera kicking a pro-life demonstrator was fired from a hair salon in Toronto, Canada, after the video was circulated widely online. He could also face criminal charges.
Jordan Hunt was seen delivering a roundhouse kick to a woman who was filming him with her phone.
After the kick was delivered without warning, Hunt claimed that he was trying to kick the phone, not the woman.
Others told him to stay back as one person yelled: “Someone call the cops!”
Marie-Claire Bissonnette, the 27-year-old victim, said that Hunt ripped a ribbon off her chest as she lay on the ground after being kicked.
Bissonnette is the youth coordinator with Campaign Life Coalition, a pro-life group. She said she was leading a group of 76 pro-life protesters in an annual silent protest on Sept. 30, when Hunt approached the group, talking about abortion before kicking her.
Bissonnette said that she didn’t see the blow coming.
“When he began to pose and you can see in the video that he positions himself for this, I guess it didn’t register because it was very sudden,” she said. “You would expect someone to start yelling in a loud voice or be very aggressive before they would go and physically assault someone.”
Fired, Possible Charges
Hunt was fired after the footage emerged, Noble Studio 101 said in a statement.“It has been brought to our attention that Jordan has been caught on camera assaulting an innocent bystander at a pro life rally. We don’t condone his actions and he has been let go. We believe that everyone has a right to an opinion and the right to voice their opinion without fear of physical violence,” the company posted on Instagram.
“I told them what happened and showed them the video and they said, ‘What do you want us to do about it?'” said Bissonnette. “Just the way they phrased things kind of leaned towards encouraging me not to press charges.”
Bissonnette later said that she plans on pressing charges when Hunt is arrested.
She said she wants to show people they cannot assault others, while noting she has received death and rape threats from those who oppose her.
“This is a bald-faced lie. The only violence or aggression I’ve witnessed in my many years in the pro-life movement comes entirely from pro-abortion activists, and yet it’s rarely, if ever, reported.”
