Campus News - Spartan Daily

April 20, 2005

Street preacher gets pushed off soapbox
By Elizabeth Nguyen
Daily A&E Editor
April 20, 2005

Three patrol cars parked on campus at 6 p.m. Wednesday in front of the fountain by the Event Center where a slim middle-aged man usually stands to deliver his religious thoughts. The street preacher, who remained silent when asked his name, was not on his soapbox - he was in the patrol car.

Mark Trout, a member of Family Radio in Oakland who usually debates religious thoughts over at the Seventh Street location, was detained and put in a patrol car for approximately twenty minutes and released after a reported confrontation between him and Ibahan Muhammad, who was passing by the fountain.

Brittany Obot, a freshman majoring in mass communications, and Ashley Williams, a freshman majoring in psychology and dance, said they both witnessed the scuffle.

" I saw an African American man try to take (Trout's) sign and push him off the block," Obot said. "He didn't do anything, so we were surprised that they arrested him."

Obot, who had been watching Trout speak for about an hour, said Muhammad claimed that Trout instigated the fight by spitting on Muhammad, but she said she did not see it happen.

" If someone spit on me, I would push him off too," Williams said, adding that she did not see Muhammad get spit on either.

" I heard him say 'Don't put your hands on me,' " Obot said, "Then I heard him say 'Don't pull a knife on me.' "

Obot and Williams said they did not see anyone pull out a knife, but said Trout might have said it because he was "kind of crazy."

Ali Warriach, a senior majoring in electrical engineering, said he has been in confrontations with Trout before and that he was not surprised to see the street preacher get pushed down.

" He's here spreading hate and it gets to a point where someone won't tolerate that," Warriach said.

Warriach said that earlier that day, he saw Trout denouncing Muslims to a group of Persian students.
" He started degrading the prophet and Islam," Warriach said.

Muhammad, who was walking through campus, said the street preacher frequently insults his friends who live on campus.

" If you are Muslim, he tells you that you are going to hell," Muhammad said. "The guy is crazy."
Muhammad said he was upset because the University Police Department would not arrest Trout.

" He spit in my face, so I pushed him off and took his sign," he said. "They told me that if they arrest him, then I got to go to jail."

When asked to comment on the situation, Trout said he refused to talk to the "pro-homosexual" and "liberal media" because he does not want to be misrepresented.