Man arrested, accused of smashing windows at Aloft hotel during post-rally chaos
Last weekend’s chaos in Columbia’s Vista entertainment district has landed four area residents in jail, accused of inciting riots in the mayhem that developed after a peaceful protest rally on the State House grounds.
Those include Marshall Everett French, a 22-year-old Gilbert resident who was identified from a widely distributed video of a man smashing windows at the Aloft hotel early Saturday evening.
Others arrested were Datrion Gamble, 23, of Columbia; Marcelo Woods, 27, of Columbia; and Randal Metcalf, 31, of Gaston, the sheriff’s department said during a news conference Thursday.
All face charges of inciting a riot and aggravated breach of peace. French faces an additional charge of malicious injury to property, according to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.
“It’s important that people see what was going on there. It was not a peaceful protest,” Sheriff Leon Lott said, drawing a line between the protesters at the statehouse rally and another group he called “criminals.”
French, who has a recent history of run-ins with authorities, was identified by the sheriff’s department as the man breaking the hotel windows. The department used videos and pictures that surfaced on social media and shared by news outlets to make the case against French and the other men.
In some instances the men charged with crimes shared the images and created a trail for law enforcement to follow. Those arrested by the Sheriff’s Department appeared to have been caught up in the moment as events unfolded last weekend, Lott said.
Lott said French confessed when questioned by authorities.
“Once he was arrested, he was a totally different person than what we saw in the video Saturday,’’ Lott said. “He was very remorseful and very apologetic that he got caught.
“He took the opportunity of the moment to show out.’’
Two other suspects expressed similar remorse, Lott said.
Efforts to reach French and the other suspects were unsuccessful.
In the videos, a man wearing a blue T-shirt, shorts and a backwards baseball cap uses an uprooted parking sign to ram three of the Aloft hotel’s downstairs windows before a larger man took the sign away. The incident occurred early Saturday evening.
As he smashes the windows, the man screams to the crowd while other people jump and yell nearby. The area was crowded with people running through the streets, between the Columbia Police Department and Gervais Street near the Blue Marlin restaurant.
The sheriff’s department also showed a video of a man identified as French tearing a fence down by pulling and stomping on it with another man. The other man was identified by the Sheriff’s Department as Joseph Watson, 20. The sheriff’s department arrested Watson on Friday morning.
Raj Champaneri, an owner at the Aloft hotel, said he’s glad the Sheriff’s Department had identified a suspect who smashed his hotel’s windows, causing thousands of dollars in damage.
“It was scary, but law enforcement took care of it,’’ he said. “It’s just sad what happened.’’
Lott said he hopes the arrests will let people interested in causing havoc in Columbia know they aren’t welcome.
The sheriff also asked for help from the community in identifying other people suspected of committing crimes Saturday. That included a man in a Hawaiian shirt the sheriff spoke with at the State House rally before the confrontation at the Columbia Police Department headquarters.
Lott said there is a radical group called the Boogaloo organization whose members are men who show up to protests, wearing Hawaiian shirts, and their mission is to create what Lott called a new Civil War. Boogaloo is an anti-government movement that targets liberal politicians and law enforcement, NBC News reported.
“We saw that on Saturday. There’s lots of pictures of them with Hawaiian shirts on and then they end up at the police department. It was bad.” Lott said.
Last weekend’s events followed an orderly rally at the capitol to protest police brutality against African Americans. After the protesters marched toward the Columbia Police Department, others apparently joined in and began causing trouble, officials have said.
“We are not going to allow anybody to get away with what they did on Saturday or Sunday,’’ Lott told The State before Thursday’s news conference. “Don’t come down here and commit criminal acts and be a rioter. Being a peaceful protester, that’s fine.’’
Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook said his department is trying to help the healing process following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
“I’ve struggled to find the right word for this from the beginning,” Holbrook said. “I’ve never claimed we’re perfect, but we’re always going to strive to be the very best. ... We know that we have to heal and we will continue to do our job while we do that.”
Records show that French’s arrest this week isn’t his first. Two years ago, French was jailed on an assault charge, and this past March he was charged with use of a vehicle without permission, records show.
The other men have had minor offenses, mostly traffic tickets. Woods was charged in 2012 with breach of peace, but was not convicted, according to court records and the State Law Enforcement Division. Richland County court records show Gamble had a firearms charged dismissed in 2017.
Records show that on June 2, 2018, a swimmer at Lake Murray accused French of throwing a beer bottle from a boat and striking him. The bottle exploded around the victim’s head, face and neck, according to an arrest warrant.
The warrant said the swimmer suffered an injury that caused him to seek attention at a hospital emergency room, where doctors put multiple stitches and staples on his head, face and neck.
French was charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature in Lexington County. The warrant said the bottle was thrown maliciously and the act was “likely to produce death or great bodily injury.’’ The victim and a friend said they knew French.
The case is still pending in Lexington County, according to the 11th Circuit Solicitor’s Office. The disposition of the March case in Richland County was not known.
Court records show French has been charged with traffic violations six times since 2015, the most recent of which was in January of this year. In March of this year, French was charged with using a vehicle without permission for temporary purposes, court records show.
According to a Facebook profile, French has interests in Corvette automobiles, squirrel hunting and fishing.
Lott said the men arrested this week will not be the last jailed for actions taken Saturday.
“I don’t want this to be perceived as a threat, but it’s a fact: we’re gonna come get you,” Lott said. “Don’t come to Columbia now and think you’re going to get away with this.”
This story was originally published June 4, 2020 at 9:59 AM.
