Who is Ryan Bryson? Arizona man who yelled ‘get a f**king job’ at families waiting in food drive line arrested
MARICOPA, ARIZONA: A man who harassed people waiting in a food drive line in Maricopa County, Arizona, on Thursday, February 18, has been arrested for disorderly conduct the following afternoon.
As per the Maricopa County Sheriff Deputies, they were called to a food distribution event held at a Buckeye school after reports of a man who was "yelling obscenities and degrading remarks to members of the community who were at the school for food distribution".
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Who is Ryan Bryson?
The man was later identified as 46-year-old Ryan Bryson. As per reports, Bryson is the owner of High Side Electric in Buckeye, a company founded in 2012. It is reportedly a bonded-licensed electric contract company based in the United States. The company reportedly specializes in overhead and underground switch installation, Installation of electric poles, cable and wire installations, transformer oil testing, thermal imaging, solar work, and more.
The DailyDot reported that High Side Electric, LLC received a forgivable government loan of over $86,000 related to Covid-19 relief, according to publicly available records. As per a report, the company name was seen on the truck the man was driving.
A Buckeye family told the media that he harassed and yelled at people who were waiting in line at a food drive. The family said that they are struggling to find work and had thus gone to the church food drive in Buckeye to help feed their four children.
They were reportedly “left traumatized” after Bryson, who was in a truck, drove by and told them all to get a job. "He looked at my son and told him that his parents were pathetic and couldn't afford to feed him. At that point, all my manners went out the window," said one of the parents. The exchange was caught on cellphone video where Bryson can be heard yelling, "Get a f**king job."
According to US Bureau of Labor Statistics data, Arizona's unemployment rate increased from 6.5 percent in February 2020 to 13.5 percent by April 2020. Unemployment rates have since declined both nationally and in the state of Arizona but remain higher than they were in February 2020. About one in three Arizona households (32%) experienced food insecurity in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic -- a 28 percent increase from the year prior to the pandemic.
Speaking to the press, Bryson said he stands by what he said and that, "those people need to go to work. They should be ashamed of themselves."
Law enforcement officials located Bryson and spoke to him. Sheriff officials say deputies further investigated and received several complaints about Bryson's behavior, describing it as disruptive to the establishment and food distribution process.
Witnesses also told investigators Bryson also yelled obscenities in the presence of children who were in attendance of the event with their parents. On Friday afternoon, February 19, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office confirmed Bryson was arrested and booked for disorderly conduct charges.