A male off-duty Rhode Island police officer who was operating for state Senate bodily attacked his feminine political opponent at an abortion rights rally, she stated.
Windfall Police stated Saturday that they’ve positioned the cop, Jeann Lugo, on paid administrative depart as they launched a prison investigation into Friday night time’s alleged assault, which was captured on video.
Courtesy Invoice Bartholomew — The Bartholomewtown Podcast
Lugo, who was operating for Senate District 29 as a Republican, dropped out of the race Saturday afternoon. “I cannot be operating for any workplace this fall,” he wrote on Twitter, earlier than briefly deactivating his account.
Jen Rourke, a progressive operating for a similar seat who identifies herself as a reproductive rights organizer, stated that Lugo “violently attacked me” after her speech on the rally exterior the state home in Windfall following the Supreme Courtroom ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.
“That is what it’s to be a Black girl operating for workplace. I will not surrender,” Rourke wrote in a tweet that included a snippet of video of the incident.
The five-second clip, taken by Invoice Bartholomew, a neighborhood journalist who runs The Bartholomewtown Podcast, seems to point out a person throwing two punches at a lady’s head, at the least certainly one of which connects with its goal.
Rourke went to a hospital in Kent, Rhode Island, on Saturday for a CT scan, a marketing campaign spokesman informed CNBC.
The Windfall Police Division tweeted Saturday that it’s “criminally investigating the habits of an off-duty officer final night throughout a protest the place a feminine was assaulted.”
The officer, later explicitly recognized as Lugo, has been positioned on paid administrative depart pending the result of the overview, the division stated. A spokesperson for the division didn’t instantly reply to CNBC’s requests for remark.
Earlier than dropping out of the state Senate race, Lugo despatched an announcement to CNBC showing to defend his actions with out denying that he punched Rourke.
“As an officer that swore to guard and serve our communities, I, sadly, noticed myself in a scenario that no particular person ought to see themselves in. I stepped in to guard somebody {that a} group of agitators was attacking,” Lugo’s assertion stated. “At this second, there is a pending inner investigation, and because the details of the incident come to gentle, I request that my household and I’ve privateness.”
Bartholomew, in an interview with CNBC, stated that about 1,000 folks had attended the rally to protest the Supreme Courtroom’s ruling, which on Friday morning struck down the authorized precedents that had protected federal abortion rights for practically 50 years.
About 10 members of a right-wing group generally known as the Freedom Fighters additionally confirmed as much as the occasion, Bartholomew stated. A type of members, who was filming, seemed to be goading some members of the gang. After being requested to go away, the particular person at first refused, then began to stroll away — however when he turned again towards the gang, somebody punched him within the face and stomped on him, Bartholomew stated. “A melee ensued,” the native journalist stated, at which level he noticed Rourke getting hit within the face.
Neither Lugo nor different members of the gang who allegedly engaged in violence have been arrested at the moment, Bartholomew stated.
Rourke, in an announcement to CNBC from her marketing campaign, stated she was “deescalating the scenario and the counter-protestor was leaving when the altercation began.”
“I used to be assaulted on account of that,” she stated.
“That is what it’s to be a Black girl operating for workplace. All throughout this nation, folks like me are threatened or attacked once they run. I am not going to cease combating – for reproductive rights, for the folks in my district, or for folks like me who wish to run for workplace,” Rourke stated.
