Driver in Florida plows into GOP voter registration tent, nearly hitting 6 volunteers: reports
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Authorities in Florida were searching Saturday night for a driver who they claim drove his van into a Republican Party voter registration tent in a shopping center parking lot, just missing six volunteers working there.
The suspect, described as a white man in his 20s, then got out of his vehicle and recorded video of the smashed tent, and flashed a middle finger to the startled voter-registration volunteers before driving off, FOX 30 of Jacksonville reported.
Photos posted by the Republican Party of Duval County showed Trump-Pence placards and bumper stickers strewn around the parking lot, along with the toppled tent. Another photo showed an older model brown-and-tan van driving away from the scene.
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Volunteer Mark Alfieri gave FOX 30 his account of what happened.
“Kind of out of the blue, a man approached us in a van, was waving at us, kind of a friendly demeanor, thought he was coming up to talk to us. Instead he accelerated his vehicle and plowed right into our tent, our tables,” Alfieri told the station.
“After he ran over everything, he backed up, took out a cell phone, kind of recorded the damage, made some obscene gestures at us and then proceeded to leave the complex.”
Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry called the incident «outrageous.»
«The hate is toxic and dangerous,» the mayor wrote on Twitter. «Thankfully no one was injured but certainly they are shaken after being targeted because they were registering voters.»
«The hate is toxic and dangerous. Thankfully no one was injured but certainly they are shaken after being targeted because they were registering voters.»
— Mayor Lenny Curry, Jacksonville, Fla.
Florida’s two U.S. senators — Marco Rubio and Rick Scott — also commented.
«Thanking God that no one was injured in today’s politically motivated attack against @DuvalGOP volunteers today,» Rubio wrote.
«This appears to be a politically-motivated attack on hard-working volunteers in Duval County,» Scott added. «Thankful that no one was hurt. @DuvalGOP will not be silenced or intimidated.»
Jacksonville authorities said the driver intentionally tried to strike the tent with his vehicle, the Florida Times-Union reported.
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“We are investigating this as an aggravated assault,” Lt. Larry Gayle of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office told the newspaper. “Several people were in the area and could have been seriously hurt.”
The suspect could also face a charge of “interruption of the political process,” Gayle added.
Duval County GOP Chairman Dean Black said no one was injured but the voter-registration volunteers were “shaken up” by the incident.
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“We are outraged by this senseless act of violence toward our great volunteers,” Black told First Coast News. “The Republican Party of Duval County will not be intimidated by these cowards and we will not be silenced. I call on every Republican in our great city to stand up, get involved and show these radicals that we will not be intimidated from exercising our constitutional rights.”
President Trump tweeted about the incident Saturday evening, after GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel retweeted a post by the Duval County GOP.
“Law Enforcement has been notified,” Trump wrote. “Be careful tough guys who you play with!”
Authorities asked that anyone with information about the incident contact the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office at 904-630-0500 or [email protected].
