Cops: Teen Girl Pepper-Sprayed at Trump Rally Should Be Charged

They say she punched a Trump supporter in 'an act of violence'
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Mar 31, 2016 5:50 PM CDT
Cops: Teen Girl Pepper-Sprayed at Trump Rally Should Be Charged
A girl who was protesting Donald Trump at rally in Wisconsin on Tuesday is escorted by police after being pepper sprayed by a man in a crowd.   (Amber Arnold)

Investigators said Thursday that they're recommending a disorderly conduct charge be filed against a 15-year-old girl who was pepper-sprayed after she punched a man at a Donald Trump rally in Wisconsin, the AP reports. Video of the altercation on Tuesday shows the girl hit a 59-year-old man in the face before being pepper-sprayed by another Trump supporter. The girl told police the first man groped her breast, but Chief David Moore says additional video doesn't show any evidence the man groped her and that 12 out of 13 witnesses said they didn't see him do anything. Moore said the man who was punched didn't want to press assault charges against the girl, but investigators have recommended juvenile authorities charge her with disorderly conduct for what he called "an act of violence."

The chief said investigators won't pursue charges of filing a false police report against the girl. He said she genuinely believes she felt pressure on her breast. The man who pepper-sprayed her remains at large. Police Lt. Keith Lawver said investigators have yet to identify him. Moore also described using the pepper spray as an act of violence, and Lawver said he could face misdemeanor battery charges. Asked whether police should have kept pro- and anti-Trump supporters separated rather than allowing them to mingle, Moore said it would have been difficult to separate the two groups and "we allowed free speech throughout the area." The altercation was the latest in a series of confrontations that have marred recent Trump events. (More Donald Trump stories.)

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