Fort Yates Man Now Says He Didn’t Chase Off Army Corps Personnel After Making That Claim on Social Media

A little over a week ago I obtained from the State of North Dakota images they’ve been collecting of social media posts showing activists involved in the protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline wielding weapons.

One of the images had a man – Wiyaka Chasing Hawk – armed with a rifle claiming to have chased off U.S. Army Corps of Engineers personnel:

Chasing Hawk is now claiming to a Bismarck-based television station that he was “falsely” linked to the Dakota Access Pipeline protests. In fact, the unfortunate headline the station chose to use for their report is: “Ft. Yates Man Facing Backlash After Being Falsly [sic] Linked to Armed Pipeline Protestors”

The problem is the man is now backtracking from what he himself put on Facebook. He claimed, while posing with his rifle, that he chased off Army Corps personnel. Now he’s walking that claim back. Which is fine, I guess, though I’m not sure how that means he was “falsely linked” to anything. He was linked to something he himself actually wrote on Facebook. That he now says what he wrote wasn’t entirely truthful doesn’t make the link false.

As he states at the end of the segment, his mistake was in not being more careful about what he puts online. By the way, he says he’s for the pipeline, but doesn’t want it built so close to Standing Rock, for what that’s worth.

Here’s the full report. I’m updating my original post to reflect that this guy has changed his story.