Police failed to protect rally attendees from a violent anti-Trump mob: “Someone needs to be held accountable for it”

Two years ago, Trump held a campaign rally in San Jose, California. By the time the event was over, a mob had gathered outside the venue and for some reason, attendees were made to walk the gauntlet through the angry crowd.

We covered the story at the time, Violent Anti-Trump Protestors Go Wild after San Jose Event.

Watch: The moment a Trump supporter, surrounded by protesters, is egged in the face, hit by other food. pic.twitter.com/qYFdwJWvrS — Jacob Rascon (@KPRC2Jacob) June 3, 2016

Trump supporter gets sucker punched. He later identified the man he believes punched him & police arrested the man https://t.co/NiL7GiwJ9R — Sara Murray (@SaraMurray) June 3, 2016

Protesters rushed a parking garage. Destroying the barricades near the #Trump rally pic.twitter.com/8vR6AocxMZ — Tim Pool (@Timcast) June 3, 2016

The people who were attacked claimed the police failed to protect rally attendees. Now a court has ruled that they can move forward with a lawsuit against the city.

Kartikay Mehrotra reports at Bloomberg:

Trump Supporters Can Proceed With Lawsuit Over San Jose Violence Supporters of Donald Trump attacked during a presidential campaign rally in 2016 won a ruling allowing them to proceed with a lawsuit against the city of San Jose, California, over claims that police failed to protect them from violence. Protests in June 2016 in downtown San Jose quickly devolved into a bloody scene when demonstrators outside the rally venue attacked the president’s supporters, pelting them with eggs and water balloons before punching them and snatching their “Make America Great Again” caps and setting them ablaze. A federal appeals court in San Francisco on Friday upheld a lower-court ruling rejecting the city’s claim of immunity to allegations that officers blocked Trump supporters from escaping an area where anti-Trump protesters became violent.

Melanie Woodrow of ABC 7 News has more:

Court sides with President Trump supporters in riot civil rights lawsuit The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with attorney Harmeet Dhillon’s clients in the San Jose anti-President Trump riot civil rights lawsuit filed in 2016. The decision denies qualified immunity to the San Jose police officials who Dhillon says forced Trump supporters to walk into a riot. The rally was held on June 2, 2016. Juan Hernandez says he is a proud President Trump supporter but also says his support of then-candidate Trump cost him greatly in June of 2016. Hernandez vividly remembers images as Trump supporters left a rally in San Jose. Hernandez says they found themselves in the thick of a riot. “It was really scary because the cops aren’t doing anything, they were just watching everything happen,” said Hernandez. “They started coming to us and they attacked us, we weren’t inciting anything, we weren’t saying anything to them,” he continued. Hernandez says he suffered a broken nose, bruising, concussion and scratches. “Someone needs to be held accountable for it,” said Hernandez.

You can read the court’s full opinion here.

If you have forgotten how bad this was, take a look at the video below:

Featured image via YouTube.



