Trump supporter disrupts impeachment rally with a truck and ‘Rambo’ flag, NC cops say
A man in a flatbed pickup truck who was waving a flag with President Donald Trump’s face superimposed on what looks like Rambo’s body interrupted an impeachment rally in western North Carolina.
Police are checking to see if he broke any laws.
The incident occurred Tuesday in Sylva, a town of just over 2,600 people sandwiched between the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests. Video shows the man, who police did not name, slowly driving his truck into the crowd and honking before putting it in park.
Though no one filed a specific report with the Sylva Police Department, Chief Chris Hatton told McClatchy News he’s been “personally reviewing the videos and information received.”
He said the counter protester didn’t plow through the crowd and there were no injuries. It appears he was honking to get people to move, Hatton said.
“Then, he gets out of his vehicle and begins waving a Trump flag at traffic driving by until one of our officers pulls him away from the crowd,” he said. “The counter-protester was agitated and using explicit language before our officer made contact with him. Our officer was able to quickly deescalate the situation.”
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The man then reportedly continued to drive by the protest, which was organized by Indivisible Common Ground of Western North Carolina.
“I’m not really sure he tried to hurt us, although he probably could have,” Nilofer Couture, a member of Indivisible, told McClatchy News.
She said about 150 protesters were signed up for the event on the eve of the impeachment vote, and people from as far as Tennessee and Georgia were in attendance.
“We haven’t had this happen before. We’ve always protested peacefully without any trouble,” she said. “We’re not going to let it intimidate us.”
Hatton said his department “is taking this situation very seriously” and wants everyone to feel safe.
“We have seen several terrible and sad incidents unfold in our country. Incidents that began much like this situation,” he said. “Because of these horrible memories, a group of peaceful protesters were in fear that something terrible was about to happen. Thank God it wasn’t one of the situations we see on national news.”
One such incident happened in Charlottesville in 2017, when James Fields Jr. drove his car into a group of people protesting a white nationalist rally and killed someone.
Couture said she hopes there’s charges against the person responsible for Tuesday’s events.
“I feel like he should understand that this is not something you should be able to do,” she said. “If they don’t charge him, maybe he thinks he can do it again.”
This story was originally published December 20, 2019 at 5:22 PM with the headline "Trump supporter disrupts impeachment rally with a truck and ‘Rambo’ flag, NC cops say."
