Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Head Stomping. Warning: Violent Images.



I'm pretty sure you have read all about the violent attack which happened before a Senate candidates' debate in Kentucky.

Note: The YouTube video I linked to earlier has been removed but you can still watch the earlier video at TPM.

The stompee is a MoveOn activist Lauren Valle. She suffered a concussion but appears to be OK now.

Barefoot And Progressive first identified the stomper as Tim Profitt, a volunteer with Rand Paul's campaign. I have not seen the identities of the other attackers mentioned anywhere.

Profitt's excuse for the attack:

A supporter of Republican U.S. Senate nominee Rand Paul is apologizing after he was seen on video stepping on a liberal activist's head.

Tim Profitt, a volunteer with the Republican's U.S. Senate campaign, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the camera angle made the scuffle Monday night appear worse that it was. He criticized police for not stepping in and says other supporters warned authorities about the activist.
The camera angle he mentions is the one in the first video shown on television and not the one I had posted here until YouTube removed it (which indeed does prevent a gentler and kinder form of violence).

The police should have done what Profitt chose to do, I guess, to stop Valle from presenting her award to Rand Paul. Not sure what the libertarian creed says about taking violence in your own hands if the police won't do your bidding?

Is there a gender aspect to all this? Several guys tugging and pulling a young woman over? Would Profitt have done the same to a male MoveOn activist?

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ETA:

Profitt has now been served with criminal summons:

A supporter of Republican U.S. Senate nominee Rand Paul is being served with a criminal summons after he was seen on video stepping on a liberal activist's head at a rally Monday night, according to Lexington police.

Tim Profitt, a volunteer with Paul's campaign, said he was concerned the woman was trying to attack Paul and acted only to subdue her.

"The way she went after him it looked like something bad was getting ready to happen," said Profitt, 53, of Bourbon County.

He said he put his foot on her shoulder, not her head. "I said, 'Now you stay down,' and called for police. The only thing we were trying to do was subdue her."
I guess she could have suffocated Rand Paul with her wig or something.