“I felt empathy when I heard her yell, and that’s why I didn’t put any of my hands on her because I didn’t even really notice her,” animal-rights activist Ashley Froud said. “I was so intent on getting the message across.” (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

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Animal-rights activist Ashley Froud had already jumped a fence at Joe Biden’s Super Tuesday rally in Los Angeles and begun to storm the stage when she heard Jill Biden scream.

“I had a lot of adrenaline going through my body, as you can imagine,” Froud told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday. “When you’re so passionate and driven to do something, you don’t even think about it. You just do it.”

This is probably going to be my most tweeted photo of 2020 on assignment for @bpolitics of #JillBiden defending @JoeBiden https://t.co/K7vl3mqnrX — Patrick T. Fallon (@pfal) March 4, 2020

Hours later, a dramatic photo of the encounter — with the former second lady clenching her teeth as she gripped Froud by the wrists to prevent her from getting near her husband — went viral on social media.

Froud, a 24-year-old sociology student from Orange County, was too busy waving her “Let Dairy Die” sign to even react to Jill Biden’s grab.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.

BREAKING: Protesters rush the stage toward Joe Biden during #SuperTuesday night speech; they were stopped by people near Biden. Biden is continuing with his speech. pic.twitter.com/0tI9uSj7pQ — NBC News (@NBCNews) March 4, 2020