Woman speaks out after Trump supporter protest takedown
"Everyone seems to find great inspiration thinking, if a 'little old lady' is able to stand up to power, I can do it, too," said Susan Kegeles, age 71.
A longtime activist who stood up to an agitator at a recent Berkeley protest is well on her way to becoming an American folk hero, with some already calling for a local holiday in her name.
"If all US citizens would be like that old lady, the US would be saved tomorrow," one Reddit commenter wrote this week, sharing video of the now viral event.
One person called her an "Iron Grandma," with another posting about the protest, captioned, "Your Berkeley moms are badasses," in a popular Facebook group devoted to Berkeley mom memes.
This week, 71-year-old Susan Kegeles spoke with The Scanner about how events at the protest unfolded and what happened next.
"Everyone seems to find great inspiration thinking, if a 'little old lady' is able to stand up to power, I can do it, too," she said, adding. "I'm not even a grandmother!"
Putting aside, for the moment, the characterization of Kegeles as an "old lady," many of the online posts have framed her actions in a positive light.
Kegeles, a retired UCSF professor, said she never intended to get physical with the much younger man who pulled out a stun gun and jabbed it in her direction Saturday.
But, when he did, Kegeles sprang into action, using speed and strength that literally dropped the jaws of many of her fellow demonstrators.
"He was trying to hurt me," she said. "Since he didn't hurt me the first time, I thought he might try again."
"I wasn't having it," she continued. "I just decided to pull him down off his bike."
Kegeles said she'd never had any trouble at prior demonstrations, despite decades of activism, but also wasn't afraid to put herself at risk to help others — once interceding to stop a purse-snatcher on BART and another time, in college, working with police to set up a sting to catch a bike thief.
Kegeles said she had also been moved much earlier in life by the story of Kitty Genovese, which psychologists use to highlight the bystander effect: that people in crowds are less likely to take action to help someone in need.
Kegeles said she had resolved not to fall into that trap herself.
"If it warrants action, I'm gonna go to action," she said. "That's just been my MO."
Emilie Raguso
In the days since the Tesla protest, which was captured on video and has now been used by people on both sides of the political spectrum to score points, the story continues to evolve.
On Tuesday, tips began coming in to The Scanner that Kegeles had been arrested.
Berkeley police say that isn't the case — although they did forward their reports about Saturday's demonstration to the DA's office for review.
One of the email tips, which came from an individual linked to Lynwood, California, in Los Angeles County, where Ricardo Ruiz — the counterprotester — is from, included Kegeles' largely unlisted phone number.
Kegeles said she found it unsettling to learn that strangers are sharing her private information online along with fake reports of her arrest.
"Nothing of the kind happened," she said. "I have not been charged with anything."
Ruiz, 33, has been trying to make a name for himself by "trolling" recent Berkeley protests and posting videos of his commentary online. Most of his videos haven't gotten many views.
(Despite sending tips to TBS previously, he did not respond this week to a request for information.)
Police arrested Ruiz on Saturday on suspicion of exhibiting a weapon at the protest. They released him with a citation.
It wasn't his only time in custody in recent weeks.
In mid-February, Ruiz was arrested in Berkeley after pepper-spraying someone during a demonstration at BART plaza, police said. At the time, the DA's office declined to press charges.
He was also arrested on suspicion of domestic violence in Bellflower, California, in 2023, according to online records.
Ruiz, who uses the moniker "DJ Occult" as well as the name Rick Fuze, has also caused trouble at other Berkeley protests and hassled people at local homeless camps, community members said this week.
Susan Kegeles: "I decided to engage in passive resistance"
Kegeles told The Scanner she hadn't seen Ruiz before Saturday and was unaware of his recent tactics.
The Tesla protest on Fourth Street was her first demonstration of the year.
Kegeles had been out of the country for nearly six weeks to start 2025, including on a tour to India where she had been deeply inspired by a memorial to Gandhi.
"If he could work so hard to gain the independence of India from England, then I could focus on trying to fight this administration," she said.
On Saturday, she initially became aware of Ruiz after seeing him on his bike in conflict with other people on bikes at the rally.
"That disturbed me," she said. "I decided to engage in passive resistance."
That's when she stood in front of him as he rolled slowly down the street.
"I just stood there, planted my feet," she said. "I did not touch him. I did not touch his bike."
Before any words could be exchanged, Kegeles said, Ruiz pulled out a device that looked like a small blocky object.
She didn't know what it was, but she saw light flashing and heard popping sounds.
"If it warrants action, I'm gonna go to action. That's just been my MO."
When Ruiz thrust the object toward her, Kegeles reacted immediately, thinking, "This guy is trying to hurt me."
"That enraged me," she said this week.
That was quickly followed by the thought, "You are not gonna hurt me."
That's when she grabbed Ruiz's long hair and tried to pull him off his bike.
Berkeley police, who were providing a visible presence monitoring the crowd, moved in immediately and arrested Ruiz.
Afterward, Kegeles said she asked officers if she had done anything wrong.
"There was never any question," she said. "I was the one who was assaulted and they saw the whole thing. It was all about self-defense."
"I've always been an activist"
Speaking with The Scanner on Tuesday, Kegeles briefly described her lifetime of activism, including through her chosen profession.
She was hired on as a professor at UCSF in 1985 and never left.
"I've always been an activist," she said. "I've always been focused on social justice. My first demonstration was as a teenager in 1968."
Kegeles pursued a career focused on HIV prevention, working mostly with gay men as well as trans women.
She also helped lead an HIV prevention research group through UCSF's School of Medicine for 20 years, training more than 100 people in her methods.
In 2019, Kegeles won a UCSF Chancellor Award for LGBTQI Leadership in the faculty category. She's now a retired emeritus professor of medicine.
This week, Kegeles admitted she had been on edge even before Saturday's protest because she had learned the day before that millions of dollars in grants, funding critical climate and health projects across the nation, had just been terminated.
"That just made me all the more angry and frustrated," she said. Her mindset going into Saturday's protest had been, "I'm not gonna put up with it."
Days after the confrontation, Kegeles said she has continued to get interview requests from media outlets across the nation.
"I think the reason this thing has blown up so much is that people want to do something," she said. "They're so overwhelmed by what's going on and they don't know where to start."
She continued: "I think this is the right story at the right time because of that."
Kegeles said she hopes people who hear her story are inspired to get out and protest themselves, in Berkeley or wherever they live.
Photographs from the March 1, 2025, "Tesla Takedown" protest on Fourth Street in Berkeley. Sally Francis
At this point, she said, she's not concerned about the prospect of criminal charges.
"The police were right there and saw it and there were tons of observers," she said. "People all came forward to say, I'm a witness, I'm a witness."
"If what he's arguing is that I did something wrong to impede his movement," she added, "that's still not a rationale for using a stun gun on an 'elderly granny.'"
She said she also wanted to make it clear that Saturday's demonstration had been populated largely by local people with handmade signs who have mobilized because they are worried about the fate of the nation.
"It's just a very peaceful group of people," she said. "We're thrilled when someone drives by honking their horn."
More Berkeley Tesla protests planned
There have been protests outside the Berkeley Tesla showroom at 1731 Fourth St. since Feb. 15, BPD said previously in response to a Scanner inquiry.
According to a post on the Action Network website, the protesters hope their "Tesla Takedown" demonstrations will help "save lives and our democracy."
"We are taking action at Tesla to protest Elon Musk and his illegal activities," organizers wrote in relation to an event planned for March 29. "Sell your Teslas, dump your stock, join the picket lines. Hurting Tesla is stopping Musk. Stopping Musk will help save lives and our democracy."
"The stakes couldn’t be higher," the organizers continued. "No one is coming to save us — not politicians, not the media."
Action Network
Other groups, including Indivisible East Bay, have made similar posts online.
"Elon Musk is destroying our democracy, and he’s using the fortune he built at Tesla to do it. We are taking action at Tesla to stop Musk’s illegal coup," organizers wrote in relation to an event planned for March 30. "Tesla Takedown is a peaceful protest movement. We oppose violence, vandalism and destruction of property. This protest is a lawful exercise of our First Amendment right to peaceful assembly."
