Sheriff: I'm coming after protesters who toppled Confederate statue and kicked, spit on it

Those protesters who pulled down a Confederate statue in Durham, North Carolina, and proceeded to spit on, stomp on and kick it?

The sheriff's coming after them.

Durham police told WNCN-TV that they monitored the Monday evening protests to make sure they were “safe” but didn’t interfere with the statue toppling since it occurred on county property.

Durham County Sheriff Mike Andrews said Tuesday that pepper spray was considered but leaders decided on restraint to avoid injuries and further chaos, WTVD-TV reported.

"Don't mistake restraint for inaction," Andrews said during the news conference, the station said. "If I had my deputies to engage a hostile crowd, there would have been injuries."

He said that people seen in the video will be arrested, WTVD reported.

"Last night we witnessed a blatant violation of the law," Andrews asserted, the station said. "No one is getting away with damaging the Confederate statue. We will pursue felony charges."

The woman who climbed a ladder and put a nylon rope around the statue so that others could pull it down identified herself as 22-year-old Takiyah Thompson in a WTVD interview Tuesday.

"I feel like it's important to tear down these vestiges of white supremacy," Thompson — who said she's a member of the Workers World Party and admitted her involvement — told WTVD.

Durham County manager Wendell Davis called pulling the statue down "unlawful and inappropriate" at the conference, the station said.

Davis added that state law mandates the protection of Confederate monuments and that county officials will be consulting with state officials regarding what's to become of the heavily damaged monument, WTVD said.

Here's a clip of the statue getting pulled down and the protesters' reactions: