Brett Milam

bmilam@enquirer.com

Video courtesy of The Lantern.

UPDATE: An activist who was pushed down a flight of stairs during an anti-Donald Trump rally at Ohio State University this week says he hopes the charge against his assailant is dropped.

The Columbus Dispatch reports (http://bit.ly/2eEoHSW ) Tim Adams said Tuesday that it wasn't necessary for police to charge 24-year-old OSU student Shane Stanton following Monday's incident.

Reports that Stanton has Asperger's syndrome surfaced after video of him pushing Adams in the student union building went viral.

Stanton's father confirmed Tuesday that his son does have the condition. Asperger's is a form of autism that often consists of difficulty with social interaction and impulse control.

The Worthington man was charged with misdemeanor assault. OSU police haven't said whether the charge will be dropped.

Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.com

EARLIER REPORT: An anti-Trump protester was tackled while delivering a speech at The Ohio State University on Monday, according to student newspaper The Lantern.

The protest spread to the Ohio Union on campus, an activity center for students, where an anti-Trump protester and OSU student, Tim Adams, was giving a speech on a staircase.

Adams was tackled from behind by 24-year-old Shane Michael Stanton, also an OSU student. Adams was not seriously injured.

University President Michael Drake said in an email that "we protect First Amendment rights actively," but do not "under any circumstances tolerate intimidation or threats to students, faculty, staff or visitors to our campus."

According to The Lantern, Stanton was placed under indefinite suspension from the school.

Stanton was charged with misdemeanor assault and will be arraigned Tuesday morning.

Details remain unclear about Stanton's motivation. However, on Tuesday afternoon, Tim Adams posted to his personal Facebook a statement indicating he thought his assault was not politically motivated and that it wasn't committed by a Trump supporter.

According to records, Stanton is a registered Democrat.

"At this time, I am working to drop the charges against the person in question," Adams said.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama-based group which monitors hate groups, says there has been an uptick in hate incidents reported to the organization since Election Day.

The organization has counted 435 incidents, with 11 in Ohio, as of Monday night. The group wasn't more specific about the Ohio incidents and cautioned it has yet to independently verify all of the complaints.

"Since Donald Trump won the election we’ve seen an alarming number of hate-based incidents occur throughout the nation, some of which are no doubt stemming from Trump’s hate-filled campaign," said Heidi Beirich, director of SPLC’s Intelligence Project. "We’ve collected more than 435 such incidents since the election – truly a frightening number. “

The Associated Press and Enquirer reporter Jeremy Fugleberg contributed to this report.