Raw Footage Of The KKK's Confederate Flag Rally In South Carolina

A snapshot from the Ku Klux Klan’s boisterous rally in Columbia, S.C., shows one of the state’s top cops helping a protester with ties to the National Socialist Movement find shelter from the scorching heat.

The region’s sweltering weather was especially felt by the 2,000 people, regardless of race or political affiliation, who descended upon the state’s capitol Saturday afternoon to counter a brazen rally of white supremacists waving Confederate flags.

The heat wave raised the local temperature in Columbia to nearly triple digits.

Leroy Smith, who is a black man and the state’s director of public safety, was not above helping an unidentified protester showing signs of heat exhaustion while wearing a black, swastika-blazoned T-shirt, a photo shows.

“It is not unusual for (Smith) to wear a uniform and assist alongside troopers and officers during these sort of events,” Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Sherri Iacobelli wrote in an emailed statement to the Daily News.

Smith was pictured in a now viral image helping the apparent neo-Nazi up the steps of the Statehouse to a patch of shade between the building’s columns where he could find water and first aid.

“He had observed that the person appeared to be feeling ill from the heat and needed assistance,” Iacobelli added.

It’s not clear if the protester is one of the 23 people who sought medical help at the rally, according to Richland County Emergency Service officials. Most of those people were treated for heat-related illnesses.

Rod Godfrey, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley's deputy chief of staff, is the photographer who captured the moment. He described it as “not an uncommon example of humanity” in South Carolina.

Smith was appointed by Haley in 2011 and previously worked with the Florida Highway Patrol as its chief of investigations, with its Homeland Security and emergency management divisions.

His agency also made the decision to end the KKK's rally an hour early due to safety concerns.

The protester’s T-shirt is associated with the National Socialist Movement, which is the nation’s largest neo-Nazi group whose members are labeled by the Southern Poverty Law Center as extremists.

One week after the removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina State House, members of local Ku Klux Klan chapter the Loyal White Knights held a pro-flag rally outside the capitol building. At the same time and in the same place, Florida-based Black Educators for Justice held an anti-flag protest.

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