Video Shows Protester Getting Punched at Trump Rally

Alleged puncher has been charged
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 10, 2016 2:48 PM CST

A black protester got sucker-punched by a white Donald Trump supporter at a campaign rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Wednesday, as multiple videos posted to social media show. Rakeem Jones was attending the rally with friends when at least one member of the group started shouting; as Jones was being escorted out of the event by police (and flipping off the crowd along the way), a man in the crowd punched him. "Boom, he caught me," Jones tells the Washington Post of the sudden punch—after which officers forced Jones to the ground and handcuffed him, though he was not arrested.

"The police jumped on me like I was the one swinging," Jones says, adding that violence is "happening at all these rallies now and [authorities are] letting it ride." (Indeed, Slate has a list of 10 violent incidents at Trump rallies, and CBS reports that at least two alleged assaults at a recent Kentucky rally are under investigation.) On Thursday, 78-year-old John McGraw was charged with assault and battery and disorderly conduct in connection with the incident, WRAL reports. At a Michigan rally last week, Trump waxed nostalgic about a brawl that broke out at a New Hampshire rally, calling it "really amazing to watch." (More Donald Trump stories.)

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