A Minnesota father caught on camera pushing conservative reporter Savannah Hernandez to the ground during a chaotic anti-ICE protest insists he was protecting his wife and daughter and that his family is “not violent at all.”
“We’re not completely violent people. In fact, we stay away from it,” Chris Ostrowsko told podcast host Brian Shapiro in his first interview since the viral incident.
“In fact, on that day, you will see that I was not even in the front during the whole incident. I just sat back and watched what was happening,” he added.
Ostrusko, his wife Dayanna and daughter Paige were seen on camera in an altercation with TPUSA reporter Savannah Hernandez outside the Whipple building in Minnesota on April 11.
Tpusa reporter Savanah Hernandez attacked during Minneapolis ice protest
Hernandez was covering protests for “F—ICE Day” when she was surrounded by protesters after she says she was affiliated with Turning Point USA, a conservative organization founded by Charlie Kirk.
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In an interview with Fox News Digital on Thursday, Hernandez strongly contradicted the family’s account and said the Ostroshkos were the aggressors.
“I just want to say that if I hit them first, it will be on camera,” Hernandez said. “There are a lot of angles of Paige as I stand on my own. And her mom is the first person who started harassing me.”
Hernandez said Deanna Ostrosko “pressed her body against me and pushed me several times,” while “her husband pushed me from behind and started yelling in my ear.” She said it happened before “Chris Ostrosko went on camera and instructed his daughter to ‘whistle in my effing ear.’
“At some point I wasn’t walking up to these people,” Hernandez said. “All three of them came to me. The mother and father pushed me first and then directed the daughter to attack me.”
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Hernandez also denied claims that he hit Paige first. She said that after Paige got within an inch of her ear and blew a whistle, she just raised her arms to make room and tried to walk away, but she says that Ostroskos “refused to leave me alone.”
“Every time they attacked me I was trying to leave,” he added.
Deanna Ostrusko told Shapiro that Hernandez instigated the fight and that the family was defending itself.
“I wasn’t violent. I was just trying to protect my daughter and de-escalate the situation,” Deanna said. “When I was beaten, my husband said, ‘That’s enough, don’t fight with my family’.”
Deanna claimed Hernandez “backhanded” Paige before Chris pushed her away.
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“After that, she started walking out of that area…Paige was walking out with her, and she punched Paige again, so it was the second attack, and then Paige pushed her to defend herself, and then I yelled at Paige and I said, ‘Paige, get back here.’ And she said, ‘Mom, he punched me.’ And when I said, ‘Don’t touch my daughter,’ and that’s when she grabbed me by the throat,” Deanna said.
Trisha Pohland, one of the family’s attorneys, backed up that version on the podcast.
“Based on what I saw, she went and hit Paige in the face while Paige was whistling … which she has a right to do and Savannah hit her,” Pohland said.
Hernandez said he later sought medical treatment.
“Yes, I went and I sought medical attention and they told me I had a contusion and multiple sprains,” she told Fox News Digital.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon and Deputy Attorney General JD Vance also confirmed that the FBI has opened an investigation into the attack on Hernandez.
The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office told Fox News Digital that the case remains under investigation and that it has recommended charges against Paige Marie Ostroushko, Lorenzo Amadeo Garcia and Christopher Ostroushko in connection with Monday’s attack on a reporter.
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The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office told Fox News Digital on Monday that it had received three case submissions and that they are “currently under review for possible charging.”
James Cook, one of the Ostroshkos’ attorneys, told Fox News Digital that no charges have yet been filed against Chris and that he will not plead guilty.
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Hernandez said he hasn’t heard directly from county prosecutors, but the sheriff’s office told them they “didn’t think they had enough evidence to charge Dayna. [was] No charges are recommended against him.”
The Ostrosko family says they were doxed after the incident went viral and lost their jobs even though they weren’t arrested at the time of Shapiro’s interview.
“We’re getting death threats, they’re threatening to rape my wife, they’re threatening to rape Paige,” Chris said. “They are threatening to come to our house and burn our house down…”
He added that he bears no ill will toward Hernandez.
“You can say ‘that was bad.’ Some people might say ‘it’s not bad’. In any case, this does not give people the right to destroy people’s lives. It never crossed my mind to try to ruin her life,” he said.
Original article source: Minnesota father who pushed conservative reporter into anti-ICE protest says family ‘not violent at all’
