Former Trump campaign staffer Brad Parscale
wrestled to ground by police following armed standoff
Brad Parscale: Police video shows Trump's ex-campaign
manager wrestled to ground during arrest
Wife claims former Trump staffer gave her cuts,
bruises earlier in the week
Brad
Parscale, the former manager of Donald Trump's digital campaign efforts, was
wrestled to the ground and arrested by Fort Lauderdale police following a
standoff with authorities.
Footage of
the arrest was made public by the Fort Lauderdale Police Department.
Officers
removed 10 guns from his home following a police standoff on Sunday in Fort
Lauderdale, Florida.
Amoung the
weapons recovered from the former Trump staffer's home were several pistols, a
shotgun, and a rifle, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
The standoff
began on Sunday after Mr Parscale's wife, Candice, after fleeing her home in
fear. According to Ms Parscale, she fled her home after getting into an
argument with Mr Parscale, who became irate and loaded a gun in the course of
their fight.
Ms Parscale
fled the house and ran to a neighbor's home, where she called the police. She
said that shortly after leaving her house, she heard a gunshot and was
concerned her husband was going to kill himself.
She later
admitted she wasn't sure if the sound she heard was a gunshot or a car
backfire. Ms Parscale claimed her husband had been "stressed out" for
the past two weeks and had made comments about shooting himself. She claimed
he'd been drinking heavily and that he "suffers from PTSD."
It is not
immediately clear what sparked the fight.
When police
arrived to the scene, they found Ms Parscale covered in cuts and bruises. She
told officers that Mr Parscale had caused her injuries earlier in the
week.
When
officers called Mr Parscale, they noted that "Bradley's speech was slurred
as though he was under the influence of an alcoholic beverage and he seemed to
be crying."
The
officers then tried to convince Mr Parscale to leave the house, but police
reports claim he was belligerent and refused to leave.
Eventually,
a Fort Lauderdale police officer, Christopher Wilson, said he was personal
friends with the former Trump staffer, and went to the scene to help calm Mr
Parscale.
Mr Wilson
ultimately convinced Mr Parscale to exit the house. He approached Mr Wilson and
began talking to him about why he was upset, but other officers swooped in and
knocked him to the ground.
"I
didn't do anything!" Mr Parscale said as officers restrained him.
He protests
and offers little resistance other than questioning why the officers are
arresting him. At one point, an officer says "Hey, we'll figure it all
out, don't worry about it," to the bewildered former Trump staffer.
After his
arrest, Mr Parscale was involuntarily committed for psychiatric evaluation
under Florida's Baker Act, a law allowing authorities to detain a person who
they have judged mentally unstable and a danger to themselves or others. Under
the law, individuals can be held for up to 72 hours.
Mr Parscale
became a minor celebrity in Trumpworld, where he evolved from simply managing
the campaign's social media presence to speaking at Republican events and
appearing on cable news shows as a Trump-friendly talking head.
Despite his
high profile and close working relationship with Mr Trump's son-in-law Jared
Kushner, Mr Parscale fell out of favor following the president's disastrous
Tulsa, Oklahoma rally in June.
Mr Parscale
boasted that 1 million tickets had been requested and that he expected 100,000
people to show up. Ultimately, only 6,200 people attended the event, including
former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, who died a month later
from Covid-19.
Mr Parscale
was fired in mid-July.
An ad from
the Lincoln Project - a Republican led anti-Trump group - highlighted how
self-enriching Mr Parscale's work for Mr Trump had been. It claims Mr
Parscale's personal companies benefitted from his raised profile, and listed
amoung his assets a $2.4m waterfront house in Fort Lauderdale, two Florida
condos worth nearly $1m, a yacht, a Ferrari and a Range Rover.
Both the
campaign for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and that of Mr Trump
issued statements supporting Mr Parscale, though the Republic response used the
opportunity to attack its political opponents in the process.
"Brad
Parscale is a member of our family and we all love him. We are ready to support
him and his family in any way possible. The disgusting, personal attacks from
Democrats and disgruntled RINOs have gone too far, and they should be ashamed
of themselves for what they’ve done to this man and his family,” Tim Murtaugh,
the Trump campaign communications director, said.
On the
other side of the aisle, the Biden campaign wished Mr Parscale a speedy recovery.
“This field
is tough. It takes its toll on people in unfathomable ways," the Biden War
Room Twitter account wrote. "Regardless of the differences we have in our
beliefs, we at the Biden War Room hope that Brad Parscale is safe, is with his
family, and gets everything that he needs to get better.”
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário