Trump Supporter Punches Protester At Ohio Rally, Crowd Chants ‘Lock Him Up!’
A Trump supporter allegedly punched a protester at a Cincinnati, Ohio rally earlier this week, Yahoo News reports. After the suspect was arrested, the crowd chanted, “Lock him up!”
On Thursday, as Trump was speaking to a crowd at the city’s U.S. Bank Arena, a group of counter-protesters had assembled not far from the site. Cincinnati’s WCPO-TV reports that the counter-protest was, prior to the incident anyway, peaceful, but for a few exchanges of words and chants between the protesters and Trump supporters.
Witnesses said that they had observed a man in a red pickup truck circling by the counter-protest “multiple” times. On one pass, a protester, 61-year-old Mike Alter, and the truck’s passenger, 29-year-old Dallas Frazier, began yelling at each other.
Then, according to police, Frazier got out of the truck, approached Alter, and asked him, “You want some?” He then allegedly punched the postal worker several times. He landed at least three solid hits before the fight was broken up.
The fight was recorded on video by fellow protester Scott Fantozzi. In the video, which you can see below, Alter appears to make some sort of gesture towards Frazier. Alter would later tell local media that the gesture wasn’t intended to be a provocation.
“I was more questioning him. Like, really you want to fight? [I thought], ‘What the hell?’ He started just whaling on my head. I didn’t go down, for what that’s worth,” Alter said.
Be warned: this video contains violence and strong language.
Fortunately, Cincinnati police had been prepared for possible trouble, and they were on the scene quickly, placing Frazier under arrest. Then the crowd broke into chants of “Lock him up!”, a reference to the “Lock her up!” chant that has broken out at Trump rallies, referring to the crowd’s desire to see Hillary Clinton jailed.
Frazier’s was the only arrest associated with the Trump rally in Cincinnati. He’s been charged with assault and jailed on $10,000 bond. It remains unclear, as of this writing, if the driver of the truck has been charged with any crimes, according to WCPO.
This is Dallas Frazier's mug shot at the Hamilton County jail
He's accused of punching a man several times outside President Donald Trump's rally at U.S. Bank Arena Thursday night.
Frazier goes to court at 12:30 pm on an assault charge@FOX19 pic.twitter.com/A9bFAFtD52— Jennifer Edwards Baker (@jbakerohio) August 2, 2019
Before Trump came to Cincinnati, as reported by The Inquisitr, The Cincinnati Enquirer penned an editorial asking Trump supporters and protesters to behave themselves, lest the city join other cities where Trump rallies have descended into fisticuffs.
“We’re asking you, Mr. President, your supporters and your detractors to set a new example for presidential visits. Setting an example not only includes people at the rally or protesting it, but those commenting about it on social media,” the paper’s op-ed board wrote.
