The men who assaulted swastika-wearer Michael Dewitz on Thursday kicked and punched him before one of them burned Dewitz’s swastika-emblazoned jacket in a grill, police said.
Alex William Flinchum
Daniel Joseph Schexnaydre
Gainesville Police arrested the men at about 5:48 p.m. Thursday, hours after Dewitz’s use of the Nazi symbol on campus sparked a four-hour protest on Turlington Plaza, which at times turned confrontational.
After the protest, at about 2 p.m., Daniel Joseph Schexnaydre, 29, and Alex William Flinchum, 26, approached Dewitz, 34, who sat on a wall near the corner of Northwest 13th Street and Northwest Eighth Avenue, according to a police report.
The men, driving in a red pickup, exited their vehicle and began to attack Dewitz for his use of the swastika, police said.
They then forcibly removed his jacket, fitted with a swastika armband, and left together in their truck, according to the report.
Dewitz had minor injuries but was not taken to a hospital, GPD spokesperson Officer Ben Tobias said.
A witness recorded the license plate number of the truck, and police began to search for the men Thursday afternoon, police said.
Flinchum, the driver, dropped Schexnaydre and the jacket off at his home, where Schexnaydre burned it in a grill, according to the report.
In a phone call between the men, which was overheard by a GPD detective, Schexnaydre said he burned the jacket.
Schexnaydre later showed police the grill — and the remnants of the burned jacket.
On Friday, perhaps motivated by Dewitz’s actions, a man wearing a black leather jacket with a swastika spray-painted on the back was seen on campus near Marston Science Library, witnesses said.
Jackie Coleman, a 20-year-old UF advertising sophomore, said she was on her way to the UF Liberation Rally on Turlington Plaza when she saw the man.
The rally was organized to celebrate the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz.
Coleman, who is Jewish, said she believes Dewitz inspired the man.
“As a Jewish student on campus, it’s hard to see that today,” she said. “I had a feeling when the first guy came out, that people will now think it’s OK to do that.”
Police arrested Schexnaydre on charges of unarmed robbery, tampering with evidence and conspiracy. Flinchum was arrested on charges of unarmed robbery and conspiracy.
Authorities took them both to the Alachua County Jail, where they each remain on a $15,000 bond.
mkornfield@alligator.org
@MerylKornfield
Correction: This article has been updated to correct Schexnaydre and Flinchum's date of arrest. They were arrested on Thursday, not Friday.
