An elderly white man in Florida punched a black Donald Trump protester in the face during a campaign rally in Fayetteville, N.C., on Wednesday.
Multiple videos show that as a young protester, Rakeem Jones, was being escorted out of the Trump rally by local police, a man later identified as John Franklin McGraw, came out of the stands to punch Jones in the face.
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It’s the latest example of the violence that seems to be on the rise at Trump rallies. Most recently, two Washington, D.C., reporters alleged that Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski manhandled Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields during an event in Florida on Tuesday.
“No one should be subjected to such a cowardly, unprovoked act as that committed by McGraw,” Sheriff Early “Moose” Butler of Cumberland County, N.C., wrote on his Facebook page, along with a picture of the assailant. “Regardless of political affiliation, speech, race, national origin, color, gender, bad reputation, prior acts, or political demonstration, no other citizen has the right to assault another person or to act in such a way as this defendant did.”
McGraw has been placed in custody with a defendant’s bond of $2,500 and will be heard in court on April 6.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misidentified the town in which the incident took place. The Washington Examiner regrets the error.
