By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
On Tuesday, November 11, the Daily Beast’s Justin Glawe reported that the Black Lives Matter protestor who alleges that he was beaten at a Donald Trump rally on Saturday, Mercutio Southall, is preparing to charge some men at the rally with misdemeanor assault and possibly felony hate crimes.
Southall alleges that he was punched and kicked by some White men in attendance and that he was called a ‘monkey’ and a ‘n****r’ by some of the men as he was escorted out of the event last Saturday at Birmingham’s Civic Center (the BJCC).
Southall’s attorney is David Gespass.
Gespass suggested that even Donald Trump himself could become entangled in this legal mess. Gespass told the Daily Beast, “It would seem to me, and this is, again, something that must be thought through more carefully, that aiding and abetting a crime makes you a participant.” “And particularly given the history of incidents such as this at other places, I would say that Trump has a moral and very possibly a legal responsibility to do what he can to ensure people’s safety.”
Southall was among a half dozen Black Lives Matter protestors at the Birmingham Donald Trump campaign event. After Southall loudly heckled Trump, Donald Trump demanded that security remove the loud and obnoxious heckler. Trump said, “Get him out of here. Get him the Hell out of here.”
On Sunday’s Fox and Friends, Trump was asked if his supporters roughed up the man. Trump said, “I don’t know. Rough up? Maybe he should have been roughed up because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing.” ‘The man that was. I don’t know, you say ‘roughed up. He was so obnoxious and so loud. He was screaming. I had 10,000 people in the room yesterday…….10,000 people. And this guy started screaming by himself.”
Southall is a frequent protestor and is well known to the Birmingham Police for his ‘activism.’
Several people who were at the event have denied Southall’s version of events; but the Daily Beast has video where it clearly appears that a heavy-set White man in a denim- type shirt appears to punch Southall.
To read the Daily Beast story and view their videotape go to:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/11/24/black-protestor-beaten-at-trump-rally-ready-to-sue-for-hate-crime.html
