Melissa Click told investigators hired by the University of Missouri (MU) that she asked for “some muscle” to remove a student-journalist during a campus protest in November because she feared he might have a gun.
But that student, Mark Schierbecker, was only armed with a camera when Click, who was fired on Thursday, called for help from a group of large male students to remove him from the Nov. 9 anti-racism demonstration.
A now-viral video recorded by Schierbecker shows an agitated Click accosting him as he was attempting to ask her questions during the protest. After Schierbecker rejected her demands to leave the protest area, Click, a communications professor, called for assistance.
Schierbecker’s video shows that “muscle” surrounding him in an effort to get him to leave.
According to a report released on Thursday by the MU Board of Curators, Click defended her actions — and her belief that Schierbecker may have had a gun — by citing a law she said had been passed by the Missouri legislature allowing concealed carry on campus. The only problem with that claim is that the law had not been passed at the time of the incident. (RELATED: Melissa Click Finally Fired By University Of Missouri)
Click made those false claims during a Feb. 2 interview with Bryan Cave, a law firm hired to conduct the MU investigation.
Click’s claim prompted Schierbecker to ponder, in a comment to The Daily Caller: “If she thought I was carrying a gun, I wonder why she didn’t call the police.”
“Apparently she wanted someone expendable to take a bullet for her,” he said through email, while adding that he was “most definitely” not carrying a gun that day.
Click changed up her statement after she reviewed MU’s final investigative report. In a response, she wrote:
Click’s firing, which was supported in a 4-2 vote by the Board of Curators, comes on the heels of a petition signed by 100 state lawmakers demanding her removal. Click was suspended in January, after she was prosecuted for a minor assault charge.
Schierbecker, who is now a freelance journalist for The College Fix, poked fun at Click’s claim that she feared he was armed during their confrontation.
He did tell TheDC, however, that it may be wise for journalists covering future protests at MU to bring some form of self-defense.
“After seeing what happened in November, some journalists might want to consider bringing some kind of self-defense with them next time they cover a story at Mizzou,” he said.
[h/t The College Fix]