Advertisement

Patrick Hutchinson: ‘I’m not going to stand by and watch any human come to their demise’

Hutchinson went viral after this image of him rescuing a counter-protestor at a BLM protest - Dylan Martinez/Reuters
Hutchinson went viral after this image of him rescuing a counter-protestor at a BLM protest - Dylan Martinez/Reuters

Patrick Hutchinson may be one of the few people in Britain grateful for the ongoing requirement to wear a mask. If nothing else, it gives the 50-year-old Londoner brief respite from the steady stream of admirers he has attracted ever since a photograph of him carrying a bloodied counter protester to safety from a Black Lives Matter (BLM) rally propelled him from unknown personal trainer to global star.

Since then he has chatted to the Rev Al Sharpton, the US civil rights activist, on live television and in October was interviewed by Prince Harry over Zoom. With tens of thousands of followers on social media, the fanmail, he says, is stacking up.

“I seem to have a big fanbase of middle-aged women,” he says. “They say they wish more men were like me and then subtly mention at the end if I’m ever in such and such a place then please drop by – some leave the odd [telephone] number here and there.”

What does his long-term partner Juanita and mother of his two younger children (aged 11 and nine) make of the racy messages? “Erm,” Hutchinson laughs nervously, “she doesn’t know…”

Patrick Hutchinson has emerged as one of the few bright spots in an otherwise dismal year. The photograph of him carrying the man from the scene where far right supporters had clashed with BLM protestors on London’s South Bank in June provided a rare moment of unity at a time in which society seems to have drifted even further apart. The image went viral and Hutchinson soon found himself being pursued by film crews and journalists.

Watch: BLM supporter stopped 30 times in one week

“It’s been an absolute whirlwind in terms of what’s happened to me,” he says.

Since then Hutchinson, who has four children and four grandchildren and lives in Croydon, has stopped work and devoted himself to writing a new book, Everyone Vs Racism, published in November. He has also helped establish a new organisation, United to Change and Inspire (UTCAI), which aims to fight racial inequality and prejudice across the country.

The new life has taken its toll. Without leading his regular training sessions, Hutchinson admits: “My six-pack has gone walkies. When you’re 50 it doesn’t take long to disappear.” That said, he reckons he could still carry the man he hauled out of the protest.

He was later identified as Bryn Male, 55, a former British Transport Police officer and Millwall fan who insisted in an interview afterwards that he wasn’t racist, “just a passionate Brit”. He also said he wanted to meet with Hutchinson and shake his hand for saving his life, although there has been no contact between the pair since.

“I’m not going to stand by and watch any human being come to their demise regardless of what I might know about them,” Hutchinson says. “You just hope when you do these things in life it has some sort of an impact later on. I know our paths will cross one day, that’s for sure.”

Patrick Hutchinson inadvertently ended up in the spotlight after an image of him went viral - Paul Grover/The Telegraph 
Patrick Hutchinson inadvertently ended up in the spotlight after an image of him went viral - Paul Grover/The Telegraph

The irony for Hutchinson is he had no plans to be at the protest. He is not an active member of BLM and hadn’t been to any previous rallies. Instead that day he was due to be looking after two of his grandchildren, aged two and four.

Then word got around that far right activists were planning a counter demonstration, purportedly to defend statues in the centre of London although a 28-year-old in their midst was later arrested on suspicion of urinating by a memorial next to the murdered police officer Keith Palmer in Westminster.

In truth, Hutchinson says, the far right were there to provoke. Some friends of his were trying to rally older members of the black community to go and ensure some of the younger BLM protestors did not end up in trouble. On the day it became apparent numbers were scant so he called on a family member to look after his grandchildren and headed into the city.

There were a couple of similar incidents already that day before Hutchinson came across the man being rounded on by what was rapidly becoming an angry mob.

“By the time we rushed over there were so many people you couldn’t see where he was,” he recalls. “We were literally hauling people back by their collars so we could find him. He was slumped on the bottom of the stairs, semi-unconscious. All that was left was for me to pick him up.”

Watch: Prince Harry had ‘no idea unconscious bias existed’

Hutchinson was born in Coventry but he and his sister were raised by their mother on a council estate in south London. Aged 16 he was told – indiscreetly – by his barber in front of the whole shop that his father and two hitherto unknown brothers were living nearby.

Hutchinson sought the brothers out and they became like a second family to him. His relationship with his absent father, however, did not similarly blossom. “I know who he is and where he is,” he says, coldly. “It’s nothing special.”

Hutchinson had hoped to study at university but aged 20 his girlfriend fell pregnant and he was forced instead to find a job. He started working in IT in the City, a profession he stuck with for the next 25 years while raising his son and (subsequently) daughter as a single parent after becoming estranged from their mother.

He surmises his time working in the city as meeting “a lot of successful people and a lot of a---holes”. He also believes he was discriminated against because of his race. At one stage he discovered he was earning £5,000 less than other junior and less experienced white colleagues – something he says the HR department quietly rectified as soon he raised it.

“You are not given the chances in these corporate firms based purely on your ability to do the job,” he says. “A lot of it is also who you’re friendly with. I was never really one to go out drinking on a Friday or get plastered at the Christmas party. I socialised very rarely and because of that sometimes feel as though I was overlooked.”

In his younger days Hutchinson was stopped by the police on far fewer occasions than some of his friends – something he puts down to wearing a suit and tie – although he was not entirely immune. In the late Nineties he bought himself a new car, a Renault 5 GTR Turbo, and was pulled over three times in one day. On the third occasion he lost his temper and says in response the officer circulated his registration plate among colleagues. The following week he was stopped more than 30 times.

Hutchinson does not see himself as an activist but says these are the sorts of everyday struggles which he believes BLM has bought to the forefront of society over the course of the year.

He is in full support of the BLM protestors involved in the toppling of the statue of the Bristol slave trader Edward Colston, and believes other (unnamed monuments) should follow. “Anyone who created huge amounts of wealth off the back of my ancestors shouldn’t be revered in today’s society and so all such statues should be removed,” he says.

Since attending that summer protest, Hutchinson has been approached by several young members of the black community who have questioned why he stepped in to save the man.

“We’ve had some good discussions about it and they see the thought process now,” Hutchinson says. “They could see instead of a negative narrative about black men it’s a positive one because we saved the guy.”

That is where Patrick Hutchinson sees his role now: confronting stereotypes and having uncomfortable conversations. That is a burden he is happy to carry.