Help a Veteran Fight Injustice & Antisemitism at Princeton

A U.S. Army veteran and Jewish Princeton student was violently thrown down marble stairs, falsely arrested, and persecuted for filming antisemitic protests and questioning Princeton administrators and faculty. He was found not guilty after Princeton forced a trial, but now he needs your help to pay his criminal defense bills.

Hi, I'm David Piegaro. I’m a senior at Princeton University, a former U.S. Army intelligence analyst, and the former president of the Princeton Student Veteran Club. I grew up in Ewing, NJ, attended public high school, and went off to Brandeis for one year. I wanted to uphold a family legacy of service and I needed help paying for school so I ended up dropping out and enlisting in the U.S. Army. After the army I was accepted at Princeton University and I'm about to graduate. My time at Princeton had been good until the terror attacks of October 7th and the chaos on campus that followed them.

On April 29, 2024 I was recording an antisemitic protest on campus. Protesters took over an administrative building, surrounded and damaged a university bus and demanded that the University cut all ties with Israel. After hours of chaos, some of the protesters were finally detained (and then immediately released).

Right after the arrests, I noticed a suited man who turned out to be a university administrator negotiating with a professor known to lead on-campus anti-Israel activism. It seemed like the professor was asking for the school to be lenient towards the recently arrested students. Many faculty and staff at Princeton, as well as many other universities, had been allowing--or even encouraging--all kinds of radical anti-American, antisemitic activity. I wanted to document the negotiation and began recording the men as they were talking in public.

As we approached the front door of an academic building, I asked the man in the suit who he was, but he ignored me and opened the door. I attempted to walk in the door behind the two professors and continue filming them. Out of nowhere, the man in the suit grabbed me and threw me down the marble stairs of the building. I suffered a concussion and rib injuries. Moments later, he ordered that I be handcuffed and arrested.

He, a senior administrator at Princeton and head of university police, then charged me with fabricated charges--3 of which were felonies, including falsely claiming that I assaulted him. He had me kicked out of the on-campus apartment I share with my girlfriend and banned from campus. Eventually, 3 of the 4 charges were dropped and the final felony was downgraded to a disorderly person's offense.

On April 1, 2025 The New York Times covered the case, and a judge found me Not Guilty after a two-day trial. There is also coverage in Commentary Magazine as well as other student outlets.

I am grateful that the truth prevailed in court, but getting justice was incredibly expensive. I have over $98,000 dollars in debt from my defense.

Thank you for donating, sharing, and helping me finish this fight.