The man hailed online as Minnesota’s “Spider-Man” could face another assault charge after video captured him striking a Minneapolis police officer in the face during Saturday’s chaotic confrontation over controversial activist Jake Lang’s scheduled rally outside City Hall.
Minneapolis Police Department Public Information Officer Sgt. Garrett Parten confirmed to Alpha News that police are aware an officer was struck by 33-year-old William Nicholas Love during the protest.
As Alpha News reported Tuesday, Love became an overnight viral sensation after confronting Lang during the protest while dressed as Spider-Man.
Video of the confrontation showed Love climbing onto a pickup truck occupied by Lang and striking him. Love was subsequently arrested and later released after being charged with misdemeanor fifth-degree assault.
However, Parten confirmed that charge is not for striking the police officer. Asked whether Love could face an additional charge for assaulting the officer, Parten said the incident will be submitted for consideration.
“We are going to include assault for consideration, yes,” Parten told Alpha News. “There’s enough video out there for folks to observe very clearly what took place.”
Spiderman Fights Minneapolis Police during Jake Lang Protest outside City Hall pic.twitter.com/VQlYe6I6QC
— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) August 22, 2026
Prior felony involving a police officer
It would not be Love’s first brush with the law involving a police officer.
Court records show he was previously convicted of felony aggravated battery of a peace officer in Cook County, Illinois, and sentenced in 2014.
That conviction is only part of Love’s criminal history.
He also has prior convictions for misdemeanor domestic assault and violating a domestic abuse no-contact order. A 2021 Dakota County criminal complaint later accused him of strangling the mother of his child and holding a handgun to her head while threatening to kill her as their 2-year-old daughter watched.
Love was ultimately convicted in that case of felony possession of a firearm by an ineligible person.
‘Anybody who assaults a cop is not a hero’
Saturday’s confrontation quickly transformed Love into an online celebrity.
Within days, Love’s Spider-Man persona had spawned merchandise, glowing media coverage and more than $150,000 raised through two online fundraisers.
Some coverage described Love as an internet “folk hero,” while supporters on social media declared him a hero.
Minneapolis police aren’t quite ready to bestow superhero status on Love.
“Anybody who genuinely assaults another human being is not a hero,” Parten told Alpha News. “And certainly anybody who assaults a cop is also not a hero.”
MPD disputes Love’s account
Meanwhile, the fundraising windfall surrounding Minnesota’s newfound “Spider-Man” continues to grow.
Two GoFundMe campaigns benefiting Love have now raised more than $150,000 combined. On one of the fundraisers, Love offers his own account of Saturday’s confrontation, portraying his actions as an attempt to protect the crowd.
Love claims he tried to block the path of Lang’s vehicle with a police barricade but that officers “removed it and let them through.” He says he then jumped onto the moving truck because he “felt I had to do whatever I could to protect the people around me.”
Love also claims he was “pushed off, punched in the face, and trampled by police” and that officers “protected the real threat instead of the community.”
“I did what I felt I had to do to protect my community,” Love says on the fundraiser.
But Minneapolis police are challenging key parts of Love’s version of events.
“His chronology is incorrect,” Parten told Alpha News.
Parten said video shows Love assaulting individuals in the bed of the truck before he was pulled from the vehicle. He also disputed Love’s suggestion that Minneapolis police were responsible for pulling him off the truck.
“We were not near where he was pulled from the truck,” Parten said. “MPD was not near that. It was not involved in pulling him from the truck.”
According to Parten, Love’s attempt to move the police barricades occurred later, after the confrontation on the truck, as officers were attempting to get the vehicles away from the crowd.
“Our objective was to get those vehicles off of that sidewalk and away from that crowd, and to get them out of the area where we could safely arrest them,” Parten said. “That was our objective, and he was interfering with that objective.”
Parten said Love’s account reverses the sequence of events.
“We took issue with his chronology and the inaccuracies,” he said.
Jenna Gloeb
Jenna Gloeb is an Edward R. Murrow Award-winning journalist, media producer, public speaker, and screenwriter. Most recently, she worked as a reporter and on-air host for CCX Media. Jenna is a Minnesota native and resides in the Twin Cities with her husband, son, daughter, and two dogs.
