Columbia facilities worker who went viral for shoving anti-Israel protester says university ‘failed’: Report
A 45-year-old Columbia University facilities worker who went viral for shoving an anti-Israel protester against a wall during last week’s campus chaos told The Free Press that the school "failed."
Anti-Israel protesters invaded Hamilton Hall last week and facilities worker Mario Torres, who was on duty at the time, was photographed trying to "protect the building" but hasn’t returned to campus since.
"We don’t expect to go to work and get swarmed by an angry mob with rope and duct tape and masks and gloves," Torres told The Free Press reporter Francesca Block.
"They came from both sides of the staircases. They came through the elevators and they were just rushing," he continued. "It was just like, they had a plan."
Torres said that the anti-Israel demonstrations at Columbia University have made employees rather uncomfortable.
"When it comes to the public safety, the workers’ safety, people don’t feel comfortable walking through a mob to punch in to get into campus. That’s crazy," Torres said.
Now the facilities worker is concerned he’ll be punished for speaking about the harrowing situation to the media.
"Is Columbia going to retaliate and find a reason to fire me? Is someone going to come after me? So I’m taking a big risk doing this, but I think that they failed. They failed us. And I think that’s the bigger story. They failed us. They should have done more to protect us, and they didn’t," Torres told The Free Press.
Columbia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Meanwhile, the man Torres pushed in the viral photo is reportedly James Carlson, who the New York Post reported to be a "longtime anarchist" with no known ties to Columbia University who was arrested when police raided the encampment at Hamilton Hall on Tuesday. Carlson, the privileged heir of a multimillion-dollar ad empire, is being investigated as a "possible leader" of the group of agitators that broke into the building and occupied it unlawfully, NYPD and City Hall sources told the Post.
The report identified Carlson, 40, as one of three children of prominent advertising executives Richard "Dick" Tarlow and his wife, Sandy Carlson Tarlow.
Dick Tarlow died in 2022 at age 81 with an estate worth at least $20 million, according to court records. James Carlson is heir to the family fortune and owns a 2,893-square-foot, three-story brownstone with four wood-burning fireplaces and a carriage house purchased in Park Slope in 2019 for $2.3 million, property records and online listings show.
Carlson has a lengthy arrest record dating back to 2005, with charges including burglary, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, conspiracy and criminal trespassing, the Post reported.
Fox News Digital’s Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.