Chicago pastor says man confronted, pushed him during Pilsen street sermon
Chicago pastor says man confronted, pushed him during Pilsen street sermon
A pastor was assaulted while preaching on a street corner in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood, according to video of the incident and witnesses who were present.
CHICAGO - A pastor was assaulted while preaching on a street corner in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood, according to video of the incident and witnesses who were present.
The confrontation, which was captured on video, also shows several bystanders attempting to intervene.
The backstory:
Pastor Jeremy Chong, a born-again Christian who regularly preaches in Pilsen, recently began recording his Saturday sermons. During one recording, a confrontation unfolded near West 18th Street and South Loomis Street.
Video provided by Chong shows a verbal dispute between Chong and a man who, Chong said, objected to the volume of the street preaching. The video appears to show the man pushing Chong.
Chong said he was not afraid during the encounter, but nearby bystanders became concerned and stepped in.
One of those bystanders, Saul Garza, said he attempted to calm the situation. Garza said tensions escalated when another person arrived and became involved in the dispute.
What they're saying:
Both Chong and Garza said they tried to de-escalate the situation and prevent it from turning physical.
"So a guy jumped out of his car, and then I tried to get him to stop and said, ‘stop, stop, stop.’ So I'll try to get him to stop as well. But no, they just started fighting," Rev. Chong said.
Garza said he initially feared the situation could become dangerous.
"Well, I'll be honest, living in Chicago, seeing a car pull up that quickly, you got split-second decision. So I thought, okay, let's get to safety. But then he started yelling, ‘leave them alone.’ And I realized he wasn't against us. He was against what he was doing. Now, I did try and stop it, I didn't. I really wanted to de-escalate the whole situation," Garza said.
Chong said he believed Chicago police vehicles passed through the area during the incident but did not stop.
Neither Chong nor Garza filed a police report.
What's next:
Although they did not know each other before the encounter, Chong and Garza said they have since become friends.
Chong said he plans to continue preaching in Pilsen and believes recording the incident helped document what occurred.
The Source: The information in this article was reported by FOX Chicago's Joanie Lum.