Cops: Girl Groped, Pepper-Sprayed Outside Trump Rally

Paul Ryan's name caused boos at rally in his hometown
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 30, 2016 1:03 AM CDT
Cops: Teen Was Groped, Pepper-Sprayed Outside Trump Rally
Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Janesville, Wis., on Tuesday.   (Anthony Wahl/The Janesville Gazette via AP)

Donald Trump has encountered protesters as well as hostile radio hosts in Wisconsin, and one of those demonstrators told police that things turned very ugly outside a rally in Janesville on Tuesday. Police say a 15-year-old girl was groped and pepper-sprayed in the face outside the rally in Paul Ryan's hometown, USA Today reports. They say that after a man in the crowd groped the girl, she pushed him during a confrontation, only to be sprayed by another man. The girl, who had been carrying a sign denouncing Trump as a white supremacist, required hospital treatment, as did a 19-year-old woman who was also sprayed. "We are currently looking for two suspects, one for the sexual assault and one for the pepper spray," police said in a statement. One suspect can be seen clearly in video of the clash.

Janesville Police Chief David Moore tells WKOW that the rally, Trump's first in the state ahead of its April 5 primary, was otherwise largely peaceful. Inside the Holiday Inn Express, Trump addressed campaign manager Corey Lewandowski's alleged assault of a journalist. "I mean, maybe he touched her a little bit, but I didn't, it was almost like he was trying to keep her off me, right?" he said. That caused the crowd to "erupt in hatred" toward reporter Michelle Fields, according to MSNBC, which notes that Trump seemed surprised when the crowd also booed when Ryan's name was mentioned. Turning his attention to Ted Cruz, Trump denounced him as "not a natural-born citizen," but he made no mention of Cruz's wife, Heidi. (At a town hall that evening, Trump backed away from his GOP loyalty pledge.)

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