A canvasser supporting Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) in the Miami region was brutally assaulted last night. As per a Twitter post by Rubio that was followed by images of the bloodied and battered man in an ambulance, someone informed the canvasser “Republicans are not welcome here,” and then four men physically assaulted the canvasser, inflicting internal bleeding as well as a fractured jaw.
A few hours after, ABC's Miami affiliate carried a story that read “Hialeah police: ‘No indication' of political motive in attack on Rubio canvasser,” but the other police statement stated, “at this time,” and even though it's two paragraphs in length – which suggests that complete statements were not made available.
Although the police could not pinpoint the person who was harmed, ABC got right into investigation mode and slapped him with a hammer and then linked him to a supposed “white supremacist” group.
Despicable.
The WPLG story starts by stating that police have detained an unidentified man aged 22 years old, Javier Lopez, in the attack, and then retweeting Rubio's tweet. The remainder of the story is focused on trying to debunk Rubio's account and question his motives, and discredit the victim.
However, a Hialeah police report of arrest discovered from Local 10 News makes no mention of other attackers, or any political motive.
When being asked by Local 10 News if police believed that the attack was politically motivated, Sergeant Jose Torres, a Hialeah Police Department spokesperson, stated that the department will “allow the investigation to reveal that,” however on Monday afternoon there was “no indication that is the case.”
A police report that is an extremely brief account in which the perpetrator was at the center of the sidewalk blocking the canvasser's way as well as that the person who was canvassing “walked toward the street to avoid” the attacker:
“On the day of his arrival, VIC 1 stated the fact that he was walking through the NEIGHBORHOOD handing out flyers when he came across the defendant who was blocking the sidewalk. The defendant shook the VIC and stated that he was unable to walk through the sidewalk in THE DIRECT VIEW OF HIS HOME. VIC began to walk toward the STREET to avoid the DEFENDANT, AT WHICH POINT the defendant stated to the VIC “YOU CAN'T PASS BY HERE THIS IS MY NEIGHBORHOOD” VIC Then told the DEFENDANT ” This is PUBLIC Property and I can be here if I want to. The defendant and the VIC BEGAN TO HAVE A VERBAL DISPUTE, AT WHICH the defendant rushed towards the victim in order to take him and then proceeded to slam him to the ground.”
“At this point, a different subject who was seen observing the scene prior to police ARRIVAL DID KICK THE DEFENDANT ON the right side of his FACE. The defendant continued to hit the VIC multiple times by closing his fists on the VICTIMS FACE, causing him to suffer a serious sneering on the right side of his FACE , as well as his right eye being completely shut off from the damages caused by the defendant. The defendant continued to strike the VIC ON HIS MOUTH which caused a serious swish and a bleeding.”
“HIALEAH Fire Rescue ENGINE 2 Under the COMMAND of LT. KENNYON INCIDENT NUMBER 202229857 REACTED TO THE SCENE TO RESCUE VIC Injuries.”
WPLG identified the perpetrator and said the man was arrested in the year 2017 as part of a protest at Hollywood, Florida regarding renaming Confederate monuments and statues. He was being accused of “jabbing a flag, containing a Confederate design, at people.” The report doesn't say whether he was sentenced or not, however they do mention that the t-shirt he was wearing read “League of the South” and that the Southern Poverty Law Center considers the group to be a “neo-Confederate” hate group.”
WPLG says that the person “has spoken publicly about his past support of white nationalism, but said he changed his ways” and that initially he was willing for the interview by WPLG regarding the incident, but later changed his opinion. Who is to blame?
In the event that the information about the victim's past as it was reported is true in both the arrest and the aspect of his life changing, however, what do they have to do with it? There's no evidence that suggests the attacker was aware of this regardless of whether the attacker's motivation for telling the canvasser it was impossible to pass through was, say or gang territorialism, the incident that someone evidently a an element of the electoral procedure was brutally assaulted is not a positive idea for the nation. Furthermore, the news media's immediate reaction to “smear the victim” mode is a sign of their complicity in the politically motivated violence.
