Man arrested for punching Trump protester is an Air Force member
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump spoke during a campaign rally Saturday, in Tucson, Ariz.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
A supporter of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, right, shouted and gestured to a protester, on the ground and not seen, as they scuffled as Trump spoke during a campaign rally Saturday, in Tucson, Ariz.
Trump protester Bryan Sanders, center left, was punched by a Trump supporter as he was escorted out of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s rally at the Tucson Arena in downtown Tucson, Ariz., Saturday. (Mike Christy/Arizona Daily Star via AP)
TUCSON, Ariz. » A man captured on video kicking and punching an anti-Donald Trump protester at the presidential candidate’s rally in Tucson on Saturday is a member of the Air Force.
Staff Sgt. Tony Pettway, a response force leader, is assigned to the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson and was arrested on Saturday on a misdemeanor charge of assault with injury.
The event in Tucson turned ugly when two protesters displayed offensive imagery in an attempt to make a statement against the divisiveness of the Trump campaign. Pettway was one of several people arrested at two Trump rallies in Arizona this weekend.
The anti-Trump protester carried a sign with a Confederate flag over an image of Trump and was being escorted out of the building when Pettway punched and kicked him.
The incident was caught on video. People can be heard cheering as Trump denounces another protester who was wearing a KKK-style sheet.
“There’s a disgusting guy. Puts a Ku Klux Klan hat on. Thinks he’s cute. He’s a disgusting guy,” Trump said. “I’m going to tell you folks, that’s a disgrace. They are taking away our First Amendment rights.”
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Davis-Monthan is reviewing the situation and will take appropriate action, said 2nd Lt. Sydney Smith of the 355th Fighter Wing public affairs office.
Airmen are allowed to participate in political events on their own time, Smith said. “We believe wholeheartedly in our fellow Americans’ rights to express their views on political issues, and we strongly condemn any attempt to silence those views through force or violence,” Smith said.
Pettway was released without being booked into jail. It is unclear if he has an attorney. Tucson police also arrested 67-year-old Linda Rothman on a misdemeanor count of assault without injury. They haven’t said why she was arrested.
Authorities in Phoenix, where Trump held a rally earlier in the day, also arrested several protesters. Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputies identified three protesters who were arrested while helping block the only major highway leading to a Trump rally in metropolitan Phoenix.
Steffany Laughlin, Jacinta Gonzalez and Michael Cassidy were all booked on one count of obstructing a public thoroughfare, deputies said.
12 responses to “Man arrested for punching Trump protester is an Air Force member”
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Integrity First – Display the American flag not the Confederate flag.
Service Before Self – Pettway was just protecting the future president. Being he’s an Air Force employee.
Excellence in All We Do – Not only did he punch, but kicked the adversary as well.
Pettway is due for anger management training.
hiliar’s brown shirts agitating for their candidate at another campaign rally for trump.
“We want Hillary Clinton to win,” Will Quigg, the grand dragon of the KKK’s California chapter said in endorsing hiliar for president.
He probably thinks that if a klan endorsement damaged Trump, it would do the same for Clinton.
That is no way to represent our military.
He was not in uniform and thus expressing his rights however repugnant as an individual. Yes, if he had was in his dress “blues” that’s different story. What the Air Force does with him is for them to decide. Having said that the assault(punching and kicking) is criminal and should be handled accordingly by the local authorities.
Why are anti-Trump people at a pro-Trump event? Clearly they are causing the disruptions.
Liberal intolerance is always an ugly thing to behold.
Please look up the word, “protester.”
Please look up the word “vote”..
Please look up the words, “gratuitous irrelevant comeback by hawaiikone.”
Weak…
earlier today i found this ad amusing and funny.
in light of the latest terrorist attack on the airport in brussels, belgium i find this ad frightening and more than a little truthful:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMZqS7q7voY