Video shows a political interviewer questioning two men holding an infant before a confrontation that later led to a vandalism booking and sharply different accounts of what happened.
WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — A viral confrontation on a West Hollywood sidewalk has become a criminal case after a political street interviewer filmed himself questioning a same sex couple carrying their infant and one of the men was later booked on allegations tied to damaged camera equipment.
The case drew quick attention because it blended a public clash over same sex parenting, a baby in the middle of the encounter and a video that spread online before authorities publicly explained what they believed happened. Local reports said booking records listed one man on a misdemeanor and felony vandalism allegation connected to a camera, while the couple said the equipment was not touched and that they had gone to the sheriff station expecting to report harassment, not face arrest. As of Tuesday, no detailed public statement from law enforcement had surfaced in the reporting available.
The confrontation happened Thursday night, April 16, near Santa Monica Boulevard and San Vicente Boulevard in West Hollywood. Local outlets identified the interviewer as Ryley Niemi, a social media personality who posts man on the street style videos through Off The Record USA. In footage described by WeHo Times and WEHOonline, Niemi approached Anthony Vulin while Vulin was holding the couple’s infant and began with basic questions about the child and the relationship. The exchange then shifted to same sex parenting. Video reviewed by the outlets showed Niemi asking whether the men were aware of claims that gay male parents are more likely to molest children and whether they had paid a surrogate to have the baby. Anthony Vulin later told WeHo Times the men who approached him said they “wanted to talk to us about our baby,” and he said the tone changed quickly after that. The video then showed the argument growing more heated before one of the men shoved Niemi and the clip cut to a brief fight.
The public record that followed has remained narrow and contested. WeHo Times reported that the video shows David striking Niemi in the head after the shove. WEHOonline, which said it interviewed Vulin and his husband David Miller Robinson after the encounter, reported that the couple then went straight to the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station to make a report. According to that account, deputies initially said the incident sounded like it could be a hate crime, but David was handcuffed while Niemi and his crew gave statements. WEHOonline said David was held for about 12 hours and that booking records listed a misdemeanor and felony vandalism allegation tied to a claim that camera equipment valued at more than $400 was damaged. The same report said the couple disputes that allegation and says video shows no camera was touched. Niemi, in his own social media caption, described the confrontation as an “attack” and said a camera worth $2,500 was broken. No public court filing or formal charging announcement was cited in the local reports reviewed Tuesday, leaving unresolved where the case stands beyond the booking stage.
The location and the subject matter helped push the episode beyond a routine street fight. West Hollywood’s Rainbow District is one of the most visible LGBTQ neighborhoods in the country, and the questions in the video focused directly on who can raise children and how those families are viewed in public. Local coverage said bystanders gathered during the exchange and some tried to push Niemi’s group down the block as tensions rose. The couple told WEHOonline that a nearby security ambassador did not intervene, though they also said events unfolded quickly. Anthony Vulin was identified in local coverage as a member of West Hollywood’s Business License Commission, which added another layer of public attention once the video began circulating. By Tuesday, the clash was no longer just a sidewalk argument. It had become part of a wider local debate about politically charged gotcha interviews, public harassment and whether viral video can flatten a complicated encounter into a single narrative before investigators finish their work.
The next steps appear to be legal rather than public. WEHOonline reported that Anthony Vulin and David Miller Robinson retained counsel and planned to fight the allegations. A follow up report said a fundraising campaign for their legal defense had raised more than $45,000 by Tuesday and that residents spoke in support of the couple during Monday’s West Hollywood City Council meeting. Niemi and Off The Record USA also sought donations, with WEHOonline reporting that a fundraiser for equipment and security was seeking $25,000 and had raised $790 as of Saturday night. Those competing campaigns underscored how quickly the confrontation moved from a street corner to parallel online narratives, each asking supporters to finance the next stage. Publicly, though, the legal details are still thin. The local reports reviewed Tuesday did not identify a hearing date, did not cite a filed complaint and did not include a detailed statement from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department about probable cause, evidence collection or any prosecutor decision.
What is clearer is the effect the episode had after the cameras stopped. WEHOonline reported that the couple spent the weekend at home with their son and said they no longer felt safe there after the video spread. The outlet said Anthony received a threatening call from someone who called him a child molester and referenced his real estate work, and that the family’s personal and business social media accounts were quickly hit with harassment after their names were published. On the other side, Niemi used the video to tell followers he had been assaulted while asking a question about parenting. That split has defined the story from the start. One side says it was a targeted provocation built to trigger a confrontation in one of the country’s best known gay neighborhoods. The other says it was a violent response to an interview question. For now, the public evidence remains a short clip, a booking entry described by local outlets and two sharply different accounts of the same few minutes on a West Hollywood sidewalk.
As of Tuesday, the confrontation remained a booking stage case with no publicly reported hearing date and no fuller law enforcement narrative in the reporting reviewed. The next clear milestone is whether prosecutors file charges and whether authorities publicly explain how they evaluated the video, the alleged equipment damage and the claims made by both sides.
Author note: Last updated April 21, 2026.