Police have issued an arrest warrant for the Donald Trump supporter who punched a 69-year-old disabled woman in the face outside an Asheville, North Carolina rally on Monday night.
According to reports, Donald Trump supporter Richard Campbell punched protester Shirley Teter so brutally she fell backward onto the oxygen tank she carries in her backpack to treat her lung disease.
#BasketOfDeplorables: Donald Trump supporter punches 69-year-old protester outside rally. https://t.co/NrpOJM4dC1 pic.twitter.com/pODE5lUhzE
— Gabe Ortíz (@TUSK81) September 13, 2016
Video captured immediately after the assault shows a chaotic scene. Teter is sprawled on the sidewalk as police and other protesters attempt to help her. Others are shown chasing after Campbell, who has yet to be apprehended by police.
The reason for the Trump supporter’s deplorable attack? Teter joked that Trump’s supporters better learn Russian due to his affinity for Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
“He stopped in his tracks, and he turned around and just cold-cocked me,” Teter said.
The Monday night rally was marred with violence from the Republican nominee’s supporters. Inside, supporter Thomas Vellanti Jr. was filmed punching, choking, and slapping anti-Trump protesters one-by-one as they were getting kicked out of the rally by security.
WATCH: Man slaps several protesters as they are being escorted out of @realDonaldTrump rally in Asheville, NC. pic.twitter.com/KMKCDvIar4
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) September 12, 2016
The video shows security doing little to stop Vellanti, who, unlike the protesters, was allowed to stay.
An older male supporter near Vellanti is shown making obscene gestures at the protesters as they are filing out. A female supporter in a yellow shirt is also shown gleefully mocking them as they leave.
Police issued an arrest warrant for Vellanti — who already has a previous record for assault and battery — after video of the assaults went viral. He turned himself in to police later that day.
Back in March, another North Carolina Trump supporter was charged with assault after sucker-punching a Black protester in the face during a rally. 78-year-old John McGraw compared the protester to a terrorist and said he enjoyed “knocking the hell out of that big mouth.”
McGraw also told a news program that if he saw the protester again, he “might have to kill him.” Trump rebuked McGraw by offering to pay for his legal bills, which he later tried to retract.
According to Huffington Post, “between Feb. 29 and March 14, at least 52 people were charged in connection with physical altercations at Trump rallies.” We’ve tracked much of that Trump-inspired violence on our “Trump Hate Map” here.
As for Teter, she was left with “sore ribs, a sore jaw, and cut her elbow” by the Trump supporter, but seems to be recovering well:
Many people expressed concerns for Teter on social media, and to those folks she says, “Thank you.”
After our interview, Teter called News 13. She wanted to add one more thing, a question.
She asks if people find a Trump supporter punching her in the face deplorable.
