FIRST INTERVIEW: Man who body-slammed rioter in viral video speaks out

Dan Nordby—a bystander who body-slammed a rioter after throwing a can at a police officer during anti-ICE riots in LA—is speaking out for the first time.

Nordby joined Liz Collin on her podcast to explain what happened on July 11 leading up to the viral moment and his connection to Minnesota.

Nordby told Collin that his distrust of mainstream media prompted him to check out what was happening for himself, “to see it with my own eyes and hear it with my own ears,” he explained.

“I was out there, Liz, because if there’s one thing I know—no offense—don’t trust the media.”

Even though Nordby said that he didn’t trust 99% of what the media reported, he did tell Collin, “you’re one of the exceptions which is why I’m doing this interview.”

In checking out how people were taking to the streets to protest against ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement), Nordby said, “I found myself in a situation where I was between the crowd and thousands of people.”

Nordby explained to Collin that what he saw was remarkable—and not in any good way.

“You know, they’re throwing homemade fireworks wrapped in shrapnel at the police horses. Disgusting. Then, I watched these two men taunting the police, they’d walk up to them and they were swearing, F— this, F— that, they’re throwing up gang signs, clearly just trying to start a fight. I was amazed because the members of the sheriff’s department, it was amazing to watch them keep their composure,” Norby recalled.

It was in that moment that Nordby explained how he was struck with empathy: “I was really disappointed because I know that these same guys that are harassing and soon would assault the officers, if they were at home and their mother had a heart attack or something devastating, those same officers would show up to help and that’s what was going through my mind. I was disappointed,” Nordby said.

The viral bodyslam

But then something else caught Nordby’s attention. Just before the viral video moment was recorded, Nordby said that he noticed a guy with something tucked in his waistband.
“I don’t know about you, but I don’t keep my phone or wallet in my underwear. So I saw what appeared to me as a handgun,” Nordby said.

Nordby said he looked around to see if anyone else seemed to look at it.

“I noticed people nearby, they were looking at each other, wide-eyed, frantic, and one of them was signaling his waistband. Then they started backing up, quickly. So I’m thinking, okay, they saw it too,” he added.

“That’s when I saw, maybe a minute or two after that, that same guy walk up and take a full ‘tall boy’ drink can, and it was opened, and I saw him throw it at officers. As he turned and took off, he started to run, I saw him reaching for his waistband,” Nordby said.

That’s when Nordby was struck again with a moment of empathy and an urge to act.

“I had what I can only describe as 10 or 20 thoughts all at the same time, followed by what the Bible describes as God’s voice, which is a still small voice. So I saw these officers, their children. Now, I don’t know if they have kids or not, in my head, you know, in an instant, it was perfect clarity too, which is, I saw the officers and their children growing up without their mothers and fathers. I saw this man that had just assaulted the officers, I saw his parents crying over a casket. It was all in the fraction of a second. And it was perfect clarity followed by the still small voice. I knew what I had to do,” Nordby said.

As the viral video shows, Nordby then tackled—practically body-slamming—the guy to the ground.

News reports say the man was then arrested and charged for assaulting a police officer.

Nordby also said that he was told a gun was recovered from the scene.

Growing up in Minnesota

Collin asked Nordby how he learned such a move, which Nordby attributed to growing up in Minnesota.

“My dad taught me the fundamentals in third grade football. I grew up playing football, hockey, lacrosse, through high school. I played one semester of college football and then I played some rugby.”

Nordby was prepared to take such action because he grew up in Minnesota “with two brothers, an older brother and a younger brother,” he said jokingly.

On a more serious note, however, Nordby wrote a post on X just after the incident to remind people about the importance of law enforcement professionals.

“People behind the badge are worth getting to know. I’ve met some of the kindest, most genuine people these last few days. You are heroes. We appreciate you,” Nordby wrote.

 

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