The alleged victim said an off-duty police officer and former Rhode Island Republican state Senate candidate attacked her political rival during an abortion rights rally following the Supreme Court ruling.
The alleged attacker, Jean Lugo, dropped out of the race on Saturday afternoon and is now under investigation. Before temporarily deactivating his account, he wrote on Twitter, “I will not be running for office any more this fall.”
Jane Rourke, a progressive race for Senate District 29, who identifies herself as a reproductive rights organizer, said her political rival “had spoken to her” after her speech at a Friday night rally outside the state home in Providence. attacked me violently”.
“That’s what it’s like to be a black woman running for office. I won’t give up,” Rourke wrote in a tweet.
The five-second clip, taken by Bill Bartholomew, a local journalist who plays it bartholomewtown The podcast shows a man throwing two punches at a woman’s head, at least one of which engages with his target.
Courtesy Bill Bartholomew – The Bartholomewtown Podcast
A spokesman for the campaign told CNBC that Rourke went to a hospital in Kent, Rhode Island, for a CT scan on Saturday.
The Providence Police Department tweeted Saturday that it is “criminally investigating the behavior of an off-duty officer during a protest last evening where a woman was attacked.”
The officer, who has not been identified by name in the tweet, has been placed on paid administrative leave for the outcome of the review, the department said. A spokesman for the department did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.
Before dropping out of the state Senate race, Lugo sent a statement to CNBC, urging him to defend his actions without refusing to punch Rourke.
Lugo’s statement said, “As an officer who vowed to protect and serve our communities, unfortunately, I found myself in a position that no one should see themselves in. I Stepped to save someone who was being attacked by a group of agitators.” “At this time, there is a pending internal investigation, and as the facts of the incident come to light, I request that my family and my privacy be protected.”
Bartholomew said in an interview with CNBC that nearly 1,000 people took part in a rally to protest the Supreme Court ruling, which on Friday morning struck at the legal precedent that has championed federal abortion rights for nearly 50 years. was protected.
Bartholomew said about 10 members of a right-wing group known as the Freedom Fighters also participated in the event. One of the members, who was filming, was seen driving away some members of the crowd. Bartholomew said that after being asked to leave, the man at first refused, then began to walk – but when he turned to the crowd, someone punched him in the face and hit him, Bartholomew Told. “A scuffle ensued,” said the local journalist, at which point he saw Rourke hit in the face.
Bartholomew said that neither Lugo nor the other members of the mob had been arrested at the time for their alleged involvement in the violence.
Rourke from her campaign said in a statement to CNBC that she was “deteriorating the situation and going counter-protesters when the controversy began.”
“I was attacked as a result of that,” she said.
“That’s what it’s like to be a black woman running for office. All over this country, people like me are bullied or attacked when they run. I stand for the people of my district — for reproductive rights. I’m not going to stop fighting, or for people like me who want to run for office,” Rourke said.