A Las Vegas couple face charges of assault, battery, and stalking after harassing a Trump voter outside his home earlier this month and running over his foot as after he pulled a gun.
According to Las Vegas police, 38-year-old Jennifer Lund and 45-year-old Timothy Parks were driving around while blaring the song “F*** Donald Trump” (presumably the 2016 ditty released by rapper YG) when they stopped their vehicle in front of a home displaying a Donald Trump sign. Lund later told police it wasn’t the first time that she’d parked her car and blasted the tune with the intent of bothering the residents, but when she did so on the afternoon of October 13th, she got more of a reaction than she bargained for.
“Parks parked his Tesla in front of the residence with Lund in the passenger seat… [playing] the song ‘[Expletive] Donald Trump,’” documents said. Seconds later, three men approached the vehicle — with one man later punching Parks.
Detectives obtained surveillance video, which they said showed three men outside the car at the time, documents said. One of the men then took out a gun and pointed it at the car. The car then drives off, running over one man’s foot, the video shows according to police.
At least seven bullets impacted the car, police said. “Lund stated since [the people] put the Trump sign in their yard, she feels like she has every right to tell them how she feels about it,” police said in court documents. “Lund advised this was not the first time she went to that house to play the ‘[Expletive] Donald Trump’ song. Lund states she hates Donald Trump and hates every person who represents or votes for him.”
What a sad, pathetic, person. While Lund may have a First Amendment right to blare her Trump-hating song as she rides around the streets of Las Vegas, that doesn’t mean that she can harrass Trump supporters inside their home whenever she feels like it. For that matter, I’m sure some of the undecideds and Harris voters on the street weren’t too happy about having an expletive-filled song echo through their neighborhood with kids around.
RedState’s Brittany Sheehan reports that one of the three men who approached Lund and Parks in Parks’ Telsa told police that Lund was just playing “F*** Donald Trump”, but was screaming at him as the pair drove up. At one point Parks was punched by one of the men, which is when Parks put his car in gear and started to drive away, only to reverse his Tesla and back up over the man’s foot.
The person who fired the gun said he felt his life was threatened, so he fired. He did not face charges as of Thursday.
According to police, Lund harassed the homeowners several times before.
Las Vegas Justice Court Judge Rebecca Saxe set bail for both Lund and Parks at $20,000. Both defendants remained in custody as of Thursday.
While Lund and Parks are the only ones facing charges at the moment, that could change as police continue their investigation. If the surveillance video that captured the incident showed any of the three men acting as the initial aggressor, however, my guess is that they would have been charged along with the anti-Trumpers who thought it would be fun to harass their political opponents.
I’m glad that no one was seriously injured in this incident, but as Sheehan writes at RedState, “[e]xtreme rhetoric is disrupting the peace as citizens prepare for an election that seems to be locked in a dead heat. As we approach the election, voters must prioritize their safety and well-being.”
That includes being able to protect yourself from those ready and willing to inflict violence on their political opponents, but it also means not harassing, stalking, or assaulting those who disagree with you in the first place. No matter how much Lund or Parks hate Trump or despite his supporters, they had no right to harass or intimidate the homeowners for simply showing their support for a candidate. It would have been better had they realized this before their arrest, but perhaps this will be a teachable moment for the Harris fans.
