Turning Point USA affiliates accused of injuring ASU professor face charges

Two Turning Point USA affiliates who court documents state were involved in an October altercation with a queer Arizona State University professor are facing charges.

Kalen D’Almeida and Braden Ellis are accused of harassment. D’Almeida also faces assault and disorderly conduct charges.

They are scheduled for an arraignment hearing on Jan. 2.

The charges come after two people confronted and injured writing instructor David Boyles near the Fulton Garage in Tempe. The conservative organization said the people were their “crew members,” describing them as a “reporter” and a “cameraman.”

A spokesperson with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office confirmed that the charges against D’Almeida and Ellis were related to the October incident on ASU’s Tempe campus, but declined to comment further.

D’Almeida declined to comment on the charges, saying he had “no knowledge of anything.” Ellis couldn’t be reached for comment. A spokesperson for Turning Point USA did not immediately provide contact information for Ellis.

Turning Point USA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet told The Arizona Republic that D’Almeida and his cameraman did “absolutely nothing wrong.”

“We will vigorously defend them and look forward to taking this into a courtroom where the very clear video evidence documenting this incident will quickly prevail over ASU’s gaslighting and the media’s propaganda,” Kolvet said. “Our team members will be vindicated.”

Security footage of the incident obtained by The Republic via a public records request shows the two people following Boyles, who appears to rush toward the person filming him.

The surveillance video shows Boyles reaching toward the camera. He may have made contact with the person filming. The video then shows the other Turning Point USA affiliate rushing toward Boyles and pushing him onto the ground.

Turning Point USA has long maintained that Boyles made the first move in the altercation. In an Instagram post describing the confrontation, Boyles said he was attempting to block the camera when he reached toward the person filming him.

ASU President Michael Crow later condemned the incident, calling the two Turning Point USA affiliates “cowards” and describing their actions as “the kind of outrageous conduct that you would expect to see from bullies in a high school cafeteria.” He pledged that he and other university officials would “do all that we can to end the bullying and intimidation of our faculty members by Turning Point USA.”

“It is astounding to me that…