Man argues with group of girls on California trail over how they’ve parked, then they pull out bear spray and the internet is torn over who was right

Viral footage that appears to show a man being sprayed with bear spray after a heated argument with a group of girls has got the internet discussing who was truly in the wrong. The alleged incident took place on a California trail. Some have argued the women were acting in self-defense, but others claim they went too far.

The viral clip is close to reaching 15 million views on TikTok, with almost 2 million likes and was posted by TikTok user “mushy.gooms.” While the dialogue has been removed from the initial clip, it shows a man who appears to be aggressively approaching a group of girls before one of the girls produces bear spray from her bag. The potent spray is then unleashed directly into the man’s face.

The woman who posted it claimed in the caption that she was one of the six women who were approached by the man. She accused the man of trying to “intimidate and harass us.” 

The internet is split

However, not everyone on TikTok was buying it, “Two sides to every story,” one commenter pointed out. But others commended the girls for their actions, “As a mom of girls, I’m so proud of you!!!”

The video eventually found its way to X where even more people weighed in with their opinions on the incident. In general, more people on X seemed to believe that the group of girls was in the wrong. 

One viewer claimed that the use of bear spray was “attempted homicide” while another pointed out that “he was already leaving,” when the girl sprayed him. However, the original poster claimed in a second video that the man was actually charging at another one of the women off-camera. She argued that the spray “felt needed, we were scared for our safety.”

The girls allege the man was intimidating them

In the second video, mushy.gooms provided more context from her perspective. “As soon as we get off this trail this man is at the top of this hill and he’s screaming down at us.” Apparently, the whole dispute started after the man told them they can’t park there. She then claimed “me and my friend Lena said, ‘we’re leaving,’ not even in a rude way, this situation could have ended there.”

However, the woman alleged that the man “came charging down the hill at us.” She said the man’s demeanour was aggressive and that he was insulting and demeaning the girls. She also claimed they believed that the man was going to hit one of them, they allegedly told him to leave, and claimed they warned him they would use the bear spray.

She also says the man called the police on them but that they were fully compliant with the authorities as “we know that we did nothing wrong.” She also says the man didn’t press charges but did “make a false report,” claiming they walked up on him. According to her, the police told her the case would be sent to the DA but was likely to get dropped as the video shows self-defense.