Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign says at least two protesters upset by the Republican presidential candidate’s comments against aid to Ukraine intentionally rammed his car in Iowa in retaliation Thursday, but police say there is no evidence to support Vivek Ramaswamy’s claim. that the accident was intentional.
The police account of the accident in the central Iowa town of Grinnell diverged sharply from the story previously told by Ramaswamy’s campaign, which claimed that protesters yelled and insulted the candidate before at least one of them jumped to the ground. a vehicle and rammed his empty field car. and accelerated.
The campaign said no one was injured and that it had filed a police report.
Police say they were dispatched to a city coffee shop shortly after 1:00 pm for a report of property damage.
While there, they contacted a 22-year-old woman who reported that she had just had lunch at a nearby deli and was backing her car out of her parking spot when she accidentally crashed into a Ford Expedition that was across the street. street.
Police say the woman told them she wasn’t there protesting about anything, that she had no idea what vehicle she had hit, that she didn’t intentionally cause the crash and that she didn’t flee the scene.
Ramaswamy spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said the campaign stands by its assessment that the driver was a protester. The Tricia McLaughlin/X Ramaswamy campaign says at least two protesters upset by the Republican presidential candidate’s comments opposing aid to Ukraine intentionally rammed his car in Iowa in retaliation. .Tricia McLaughlin/X
Police say there is no evidence to support the claim that protesters intentionally hit Ramaswamy’s campaign vehicle and sped away.
Both vehicles suffered minor damage, police said, and the woman was issued a traffic citation for unsafe reversing.
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 vehicle that collided with the campaign vehicle.
“I’m sure what happened. I was there,” McLaughlin said.
Both vehicles suffered minor damage, police said, and the woman was issued a traffic citation for reversing in an unsafe manner. Tricia McLaughlin / X Police say there is no evidence to support the claim that protesters intentionally hit Ramaswamy’s campaign vehicle and sped away.
A woman in Grinnell with the same name as the driver did not immediately respond to a message sent Thursday night 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 pitch a family-themed campaign. autumn. event. Campaign aides said Ramaswamy planned to go ahead with the event.
The candidate travels with private security, but his advisers declined to give more details. He doesn’t have any details from the Secret Service.
McLaughlin told the AP that same day in a text message: “Before the protesters rammed their car, they continually honked their horns, made noise at staff, and shouted profanities (it seemed in an effort to create a commotion).”
A protester places posters depicting social issues in the window of a coffee shop where Ramaswamy was inside participating in a television interview. AP Ramaswamy’s campaign, which said protesters shouted and insulted the candidate before at least one of them jumped into a vehicle.AP
He continued: “It seemed like the protester couldn’t stay at the event or didn’t want to and wanted to make a statement. (Although I can’t assign motivations). “The driver began to drive away but stopped suddenly after employees chased him to obtain insurance information.”
Ramaswamy described the accident in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
“I had a civil exchange with protesters today, just before two of them got into their car and crashed into ours,” he wrote. “Those two should be held accountable, but the rest of the peaceful protesters should not be affected by the behavior of two bad actors.”
Ramaswamy described the events as “a civil exchange with today’s protesters, just before two of them got into their car and crashed into ours.”
Ramaswamy later sent out a fundraising email with details of the accident, asking his supporters to “defend 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 approximately 1,700 students in Poweshiek County.
Ramaswamy is not the first candidate whose car has been hit while campaigning this election season.
In July, rival Ron DeSantis was involved in a multi-car accident near Chattanooga, Tennessee, while heading to a campaign event.
Florida’s governor was unharmed when traffic on Interstate 75 slowed rapidly during the morning rush hour, causing a chain reaction of state vehicles.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn