Many have asked: Where were the chaperones during the confrontation between Covington Catholic High School students, Native American marchers and Black Hebrew Israelites in Washington, D. C.…
Many have asked: Where were the chaperones during the confrontation between Covington Catholic High School students, Native American marchers and Black Hebrew Israelites in Washington, D. C. on Friday?
It turns out there were at least five on the scene, one of the chaperones told The Enquirer on Monday.
That chaperone, Val Andreev, stands by how they handled the situation.
„There was nothing the chaperones could have done differently,“ said Andreev, a Hebron-resident. „I’m very proud the way the boys handled the situation.“
Andreev and his 14-year-old son joined about 20 other chaperones and 240 students from Covington Catholic last week for the March for Life rally.
They made it back home Saturday without realizing they were involved in a national controversy, Andreev said.
More: Covington Catholic students at the Indigenous Peoples March: What we know
Analysis: What the video from the incident tell us about what happened
The video of Covington Catholic High School students around Native Americans in front of the Lincoln Memorial and chanting sparked a firestorm across the country.
They saw Covington Catholic junior Nick Sandmann, wearing a red Make America Great Again hat, standing inches from Omaha elder Nathan Phillips, who is chanting and playing a drum. Other Covington Catholic students surround them laughing and cheering.
Andreev said he didn’t see the start of the interaction between Sandmann and the Omaha elder Nathan Phillips. He said he walked up to the scene in the middle of it.
The students were waiting for the buses to take them home when a group of about 150 of them started arguing back and forth with a group of Black Israelites.
