SALT LAKE CITY — A local business owner in downtown Salt Lake City says he is not blaming protesters for the damage to his property.
In fact he plans to donate proceeds from his business to the NAACP.
Michael Barney owns Torrent Cycle located near 250 East 300 South.
He knew a peaceful protest was planned on Saturday.
Barney wasn't worried about his business, until he saw images from security cameras.
Video shows a person hitting and shattering the window and walking away.
The video isn't clear enough to identify the person, so Barney didn't bother sending it to police.
Instead, he plans to move on.
Barney had just opened his shop Saturday for the first time in two-and-a-half months due to COVID-19.
He blames people who saw the chaos as an opportunity to lash out, and thinks it's unfortunate that so much of the property damage across downtown is being assigned to the Black Lives Matter movement.
BLM didn't organize Saturday's demonstration, Utah Against Police Brutality did.
Barney hopes the vandalism doesn't detract from the message of peaceful protesters and is throwing his shop's support behind America's largest and best-known civil rights organization.
"We decided today to donate all of our revenue from Tuesday’s classes to the NAACP -- 100 percent of the revenue," Barney said. "In addition, anyone who donates to the NAACP through our website, we’ll match their donation dollar-for-dollar, up to 1,000 dollars."
If you'd like to donate, you can do so here.
