{"id":14627,"date":"2026-02-21T01:27:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T01:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/14627\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T01:27:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T01:27:08","slug":"student-who-punched-another-student-holding-pro-ice-sign-at-lake-zurich-high-school-received-2-day-suspension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/14627\/","title":{"rendered":"Student who punched another student holding pro-ICE sign at Lake Zurich High School received 2-day suspension"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"\" <\/a>A video went viral after it showed a student punching another student, Danny Spud, who was holding a pro-ICE sign at the main entrance of Lake Zurich High School on February 12. | Screengrab: @dannyspud_ (X\/Twitter)<\/p>\n

No criminal charges were filed, but the student who punched another student for holding a pro-ICE sign at Lake Zurich High School last week received a two-day suspension and is back in class.<\/p>\n

The controversial and viral incident occurred around 1:45 p.m. on February 12 inside Lake Zurich High School at the main entrance.<\/p>\n

Many students were beginning a walkout-style protest against federal immigration enforcement, specifically U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).<\/p>\n

Danny Spud, an 18-year-old senior, told Lake & McHenry County Scanner that he decided to counter-protest in favor of ICE and made a sign that said \u201cI LOVE ICE.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought to myself, how can so many people be against law enforcement and officials trying to make our country better and safer?\u201d Spud said, citing increased assaults against federal immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/a>A video went viral after it showed a student punching another student, Danny Spud, who was holding a pro-ICE sign at the main entrance of Lake Zurich High School on February 12. | Photo: @dannyspud_ (X\/Twitter)<\/p>\n

Spud, who was recording on his Ray-Ban Meta smartglasses, walked down the hallway by the main entrance while stating his support for ICE and law enforcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe support ICE and law enforcement,\u201d Spud\u2019s video shows him saying. \u201cI support ICE.\u201d<\/p>\n

One student walking past tells Spud, \u201cThat\u2019s crazy bro.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what\u2019s crazy about this,\u201d Spud responds as the student walks away.<\/p>\n

Another student then walks up to Spud and tells him, \u201cYeah I\u2019m going to punch you in the face.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/a>A video went viral after it showed a student punching another student, Danny Spud, who was holding a pro-ICE sign at the main entrance of Lake Zurich High School on February 12. | Screengrab: @dannyspud_ (X\/Twitter)<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re going to punch me?\u201d Spud asks. \u201cYes,\u201d the other student responds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen you\u2019re going to get in trouble for that,\u201d Spud says.<\/p>\n

The student says, \u201cokay\u201d and immediately punches Spud, the video shows.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/a>A video went viral after it showed a student punching another student, Danny Spud, who was holding a pro-ICE sign at the main entrance of Lake Zurich High School on February 12. | Screengrab: @dannyspud_ (X\/Twitter)<\/p>\n

A security guard, who was standing just feet away from the two, immediately intervenes and keeps back the student who punched Spud.<\/p>\n

The security guard reports what happened on her radio, the video shows.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stand for my beliefs,\u201d Spud said after the two were separated. \u201cI\u2019m going to peacefully stand here and support my beliefs. I support ICE and law enforcement,\u201d Spud said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can go peacefully f\u2013k yourself!\u201d the student who punched Spud yells.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s against school code. No swearing in the school,\u201d Spud responds.<\/p>\n

Moments later, several school staff members and Lake Zurich police officers arrive.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/a>School staff and Lake Zurich police officers arrive moments after a student punched another student, Danny Spud, who was holding a pro-ICE sign at the main entrance of Lake Zurich High School on February 12, video shows. | Screengrab: @dannyspud_ (X\/Twitter)<\/p>\n

Spud, who has over 60,000 followers on Instagram, posted the 47-second video to his social media profiles on Instagram, X and TikTok later that evening.<\/p>\n

The video quickly went viral and has been viewed millions of times, with mixed reactions.<\/p>\n

Some people praised the student who punched Spud, while others called for criminal charges and disciplinary action against the student.<\/p>\n

Lake Zurich Police Chief Steve Husak confirmed to Lake & McHenry County Scanner that officers, who were already on school property to monitor the walkout, responded to the incident.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/a>File Photo \u2013 Lake Zurich Police Department | Photo: Nick Rusin<\/p>\n

\u201cThe students had already been separated prior to officer\u2019s arrival,\u201d Husak said. \u201cOfficers learned that two students got into a physical altercation because of a sign one of them was holding.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSchool officials advised the officers that they were no longer needed, so they exited the building and monitored the rest of the students participating in the protest\/walkout,\u201d the police chief added.<\/p>\n

Spud said that police did not speak with him after the incident, but Husak said that officers did generate a police report.<\/p>\n

No charges were filed because Spud said he does not intend to pursue criminal charges against the student who punched him.<\/p>\n

Spud said he was not injured and said there were no further incidents afterwards.<\/p>\n

School officials are not releasing information about the incident, citing student confidentiality.<\/p>\n

\u201cSorry, we do not discuss student matters due to confidentiality,\u201d Jean Malek, the executive director of communications & community relations for the district, told Lake & McHenry County Scanner.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/a>File Photo \u2013 Lake Zurich High School | Photo: Google Street View<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the incident, there have been thousands of online users on the left celebrating the assault, racking up millions of views,\u201d Spud said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have received hundreds of death threats and I have also had my Instagram account taken down, likely from mass reporting,\u201d Spud added. \u201cAll this for holding a sign that said \u2018I LOVE ICE.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the incident, Spud\u2019s Instagram account was briefly taken down but later restored.<\/p>\n

His TikTok profile, which had around 45,000 followers, was banned.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday \u2013 after the district\u2019s four-day weekend \u2013 school officials spoke with Spud and gave him a one-day in-school suspension (ISS) for video recording in the school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was surprised to be the only one in the detention\/ISS room, because I saw many other students record the protest as well,\u201d Spud said.<\/p>\n

The school also offered Spud a \u201csafety plan\u201d in response to online threats he has received, but Spud said he declined the plan.<\/p>\n

Spud said that he still receives death threats, but they have since decreased in recent days.<\/p>\n

He added that he has received support from his peers at school following the incident.<\/p>\n

School officials also created plans to keep Spud and the student separate.<\/p>\n

Both students are in the same grade, and Spud said he has had classes with him in the past.<\/p>\n

The student who punched Spud was reportedly suspended.<\/p>\n

Multiple classmates told Spud that the student was back in class as of Thursday, meaning he was given a two-day suspension that was served on Tuesday and Wednesday because there was no school on Monday.<\/p>\n

It is unclear if the student is facing additional discipline from the school.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A video went viral after it showed a student punching another student, Danny Spud, who was holding a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9885,9890,4672,10542,4573,10543,9888,10544,10545,5343,9892,51],"class_list":{"0":"post-14627","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-zurich","8":"tag-anti-ice-protest","9":"tag-danny-spud","10":"tag-ice","11":"tag-ice-protest","12":"tag-lake-zurich","13":"tag-lake-zurich-community-unit-school-district-95","14":"tag-lake-zurich-high-school","15":"tag-pro-ice-protest","16":"tag-pro-ice-sign","17":"tag-protest","18":"tag-viral-video","19":"tag-zurich"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}