Special Forces Soldier John Martin Arrested After Clash with Protestors-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
Army Special Forces Master Sergeant John Martin was arrested in Berkley, California, after clashing with 100 anti-fascist protestors and sending 53 of them to the hospital with injuries.
The Truth:
A website that allows users to prank their friends with spoof articles is behind false rumors that Special Forces Soldier John Martin was arrested after clashing with anti-fascist protestors in Berkley.
The report appeared at self-identified “prank website” Channel23News.com under the headline, “Special Forces Soldier Arrested,” in July 2017. Supposedly, Master Sergeant John Martin was on the UC-Berkley campus to speak to wounded soldiers when he was set upon by some 100 demonstrators as he exited a car:
Campus police were unable to quell the violent skirmish due to the amount of demonstrators assaulting the Special Forces Soldier. One campus officer, speaking on the condition of anonymity, was shocked by the number of people who were injured by Master Sergeant’s ability to defend himself. The officer was more involved with extracting the numerous injured demonstrators out of the destructive path of Master Sergeant Martin.
And the kicker was that John Martin was supposedly arrested right along with 26 of the demonstrators who attacked him. Of course, non of that is true. Channel23News.com allows users to create and post spoof articles that can easily be shared with contacts on social media. Then, once a contact is lured into clicking on a link to a story with a sensational headline like “Special Forces Soldier Arrested,” they’re greeted with a graphic that informs them “You got owned.”
These types of prank news websites often cause confusion when people only read an article’s headline without clicking on the link to discover that it’s not true, or when they simply miss the punchline. Either way, reports that Army Special Forces Master Sergeant John Martin was arrested after clashing with 100 demonstrators is fiction.