Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign said at least two protesters upset by the Republican presidential candidate’s remarks against aid to Ukraine deliberately crashed his car in Iowa in retaliation on Thursday, but police said there was no evidence to support claims the crash was intentional.
The police report on the crash in the central Iowa town of Grinnell diverged sharply from the story previously told by Ramaswamy’s campaign, which stated that protesters shouted and cursed at the candidate before at least one of them jumped into a vehicle, crashing into his empty campaign car . and accelerate.
The campaign said that no one was injured and had filed a police report.
Police said they were dispatched to a coffee shop in the city just after 1pm for a report of property damage.
While there, they contacted a 22-year-old woman who reported that she had just eaten lunch at a nearby diner and was backing her car out of her parking space when she accidentally hit a Ford Expedition across the street.
Police said the woman told them she wasn’t there to protest anything, didn’t know whose vehicle she hit, didn’t cause the accident and didn’t flee the scene.
Ramaswamy spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said the campaign stood by its assessment that the driver was a protester. Tricia McLaughlin / X Ramaswamy’s campaign says at least two protesters upset by the Republican presidential candidate’s remarks opposing aid to Ukraine deliberately crashed his car in Iowa in retaliation.Tricia McLaughlin / X
Police said there was no evidence to support the allegation that the protesters deliberately hit Ramaswamy’s campaign vehicle and sped off.
Both vehicles sustained minor damage, police said, and the woman received traffic citations for unsafe backing.
Ramaswamy spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told The Associated Press that the campaign stands by its assessment that the driver was a protester.
He also stood by his assessment that there were two people in the car that hit the campaign car.
“I am confident in what happened. I was there,” McLaughlin said.
Both vehicles sustained minor damage, police said, and the woman received traffic citations for unsafe backing. Tricia McLaughlin / X Police say there is no evidence to support claims that protesters deliberately rammed Ramaswamy’s campaign vehicle and sped off.AP
A woman in Grinnell with the same name as the driver did not immediately return a message sent Thursday afternoon by The Associated Press seeking comment.
Ramaswamy, a 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur and author of “Woke, Inc.,” was in Grinnell for a scheduled interview with Des Moines’ local CBS News affiliate before heading to Des Moines to host a fall-themed family campaign. event. Campaign aides said Ramaswamy plans to continue with the event.
The candidate left with some personal security, but aides declined to comment further. He did not have a Secret Service detail.
McLaughlin told the AP earlier in the day in a text message, “Before the protesters crashed their cars, they continued to honk their horns, turn off staff and shout profanities (apparently in an effort to create a ruckus.)”
A protester placed a placard displaying social issues in the window of a coffee shop where Ramaswamy was taking part in a TV interview. AP Ramaswamy’s campaign, which argued that protesters shouted and cursed the candidate before at least one of them jumped into a vehicle.AP
He continued: “Apparently the protestors either couldn’t stay at the event or didn’t want to and wanted to make a statement. (Although I can’t provide a motivation.) The driver started driving but stopped suddenly after staff chased for insurance information.”
Ramaswamy described the crash in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
“There was a civil exchange with protesters today, shortly before two of them then got into their car & rammed it into our car,” he wrote. “Both of them should be held accountable, but the rest of the peaceful protesters should not be tarnished by the behavior of two bad actors.”
Ramaswamy described the incident as “a civil exchange with the protesters today, shortly before two of them then got into their car & rammed it into our car.”
Ramaswamy later sent out a fundraising email with details of the accident, asking supporters to “stand up for free speech” and help his campaign.
Grinnell, a small town east of Des Moines, is home to Grinnell College, a small liberal arts school with an enrollment of about 1,700 in Poweshiek County.
Ramaswamy is not the first candidate whose car has been hit while campaigning this election season.
In July, his rival Ron DeSantis was involved in a multi-car accident near Chattanooga, Tennessee, on his way to a campaign event.
Florida’s governor was unhurt when traffic on Interstate 75 slowed quickly during the morning rush hour, causing a chain reaction of state-owned vehicles.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
