Rand Paul Supporter Who Stepped On Activist's Head Wants Apology

[witness23]

It just doesn't get any better than this. I guess the victim (the woman, in case there is any doubt) should've known that he had a bad back and couldn't bend over to restrain her. WTF!!!!! The only way this story gets any better if it comes out that this piece of trash is on disability and living off the Governments teat.

Link: Rand Paul Supporter Who Stepped On Activist's Head Wants Apology; Victim Says Incident was Premeditated - Political Hotsheet - CBS News

Rand Paul Supporter Who Stepped On Activist's Head Wants Apology; Victim Says Incident was Premeditated

Updated: 12:43pm EST.


Tim Profitt, the former Rand Paul volunteer who stepped on the head of a MoveOn.org-affiliated activist outside of a debate on Monday, said he thinks the woman, Lauren Valle, owes him an apology.


"I don't think it's that big of a deal," Profitt said of the incident in an interview with CBS affiliate WKYT. "I would like for her to apologize to me to be honest with you."


Profitt, a Rand Paul supporter who used to serve as a campaign coordinator for the Kentucky Senate hopeful's campaign, was caught on video on Monday stepping on Valle's head after she had been wrestled to the ground. Valle had been trying to offer a satiric award to the candidate.


Profitt later said he was sorry "that it came to that," but he argued to WKYT that Valle was not an innocent bystander.

"She's a professional at what she does," Profitt said. "I think when all the facts come out, I think people will see that she was the one that initiated the whole thing."


Profitt also said that chronic back pain contributed to his actions: "I put my foot on her, and I did push her down at the very end, and I told her to stay down. I actually put my foot on her to -- I couldn't bend over because I have issues with my back," Profitt said.

On CBS' "The Early Show" Wednesday morning, Valle - who suffered a concussion as a result of the incident - suggested that the attack was "premeditated." She said her companion had overheard Paul supporters saying, "We're here to do crowd control and we might have to take someone out."


"What happened was when they realized that I was there, they actually formed a circle behind me and then as the car pulled up - before Rand was even out of the car - ... they stepped in front of me," Valle said. "So I stepped off the curb and around them. And then they actually pursued me around the car. This was premeditated."


Valle, who was dressed as a mock "RepublicCorp" employee at the event, said she had moved to the front of the crowd so that she could display her sign to the candidates.


"I believe strongly in non-violence. I believe in peaceful protests. I believe in my right to carry a sign. I am a 23-year-old woman with only the intention to hold a sign," Valle said on the Early Show. "So, I had no -- no bad intentions, only wanted to be there like everyone else with a sign."


Profitt, who the Paul campaign cut ties with as a result of the incident, has been served with criminal summons by Kentucky's Lexington police department.


Update: John Collins, a spokesman for Jack Conway's campaign, says that the incident involving Profitt was not the only display of violence at the debate, and decried what he called the "thuggish mentality" pervading the scene. He also called for the Paul campaign to return the thousands of dollars worth of contributions he says Profitt and his wife donated.


The Conway campaign also argued that the Paul should turn over information related to the identities of the other people associated with the Valle incident so that they could be held accountable.


"Who are the other two guys who tackled the young woman?" Collins asked.

 

[witness23]

I was skimming the comments section of this story and found this, and had to share it:

by solotasq October 27, 2010 12:54 PM EDT Hilarious. Yes, all of America is sorry you were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and got your dumb butt caught on video stomping on an activist who was no physical threat to anyone. Only thing missing is the caption: "Don't Tread On Me"

 

[bobwg]

How do you know she was not a threat ??? the video only starts at the point when they started to take her down not what she was doing before they took her down

 

[dieseldiva]

How do you know she was not a threat ??? the video only starts at the point when they started to take her down not what she was doing before they took her down

That's the question I'd like to see answered. They were asking her last night why she was there and part of her explanation was that she was trying to get a picture of herself AND Mr. Paul....now, who protects these candidates and just how close can you expect to get to them before someone stops you?

Not trying to justify what happened....just would like to see the whole story made public.

 

[bobwg]

And again if you watch the video he steps on her back/left shoulder not her head

 

[dieseldiva]

Fox just aired new video of BEFORE the one where she's thrown to the ground. She's trying to shove her sign INSIDE the window of the vehicle where it appears to be Mr. Paul sitting in the front seat. They're going over it later, we'll see.

I didn't think it was as simple as was first presented.....hmmm

 

[bobwg]

Yes its just like when the media show s a cop shooting someone or using physical force alot of times they leave out the parts of the video showing what happened leading up to that point. Not saying that cops dont make mistakes or that there are not bad cops but everyone(especially the left) is quick to judge cops or in this case this guy before all facts are known

 

[Turtle]

The old addage, "Never hit a woman," I'm pretty sure covers throwing them to the ground and stomping on them. Unless she was brandishing a weapon and they were acting in self-defense, somebody's gonna get hammered by a judge.

 

[witness23]

Yes its just like when the media show s a cop shooting someone or using physical force alot of times they leave out the parts of the video showing what happened leading up to that point. Not saying that cops dont make mistakes or that there are not bad cops but everyone(especially the left) is quick to judge cops or in this case this guy before all facts are known

Yeah, its just like that.

 

[bobwg]

The old addage, "Never hit a woman," I'm pretty sure covers throwing them to the ground and stomping on them. Unless she was brandishing a weapon and they were acting in self-defense, somebody's gonna get hammered by a judge.

like was said before how do you know she is so innocent?

 

[dieseldiva]

The old addage, "Never hit a woman," I'm pretty sure covers throwing them to the ground and stomping on them. Unless she was brandishing a weapon and they were acting in self-defense, somebody's gonna get hammered by a judge.

And so if it's a woman, instead of a man, that makes an attempt to "do something" to a public official, they shouldn't be restrained?

Profitt said the fight never would have occurred if police officers had intervened earlier.
"A friend of mine went up to three policeman before Rand got there, and told them about the girl who was standing there with that wig on and that she was getting ready to do something," Profitt said. "The policemen looked at him and said that's not our job."

FULL STORY

How fast would the secret service take a woman down that appeared to be getting too close to the prez or other high-level public officials?

Again, I'll say that none of this justifies going too far in roughing her up but she has to share some of the responsibility for putting this thing in motion by trying to shove that sign into the window of the vehicle where Paul was sitting.

It could just have easily been a gun.....then what?

 

[Turtle]

like was said before how do you know she is so innocent?

I don't. That's where the whole, "Unless she was brandishing a weapon...." extravaganza comes into play.

 

[dieseldiva]

I don't. That's where the whole, "Unless she was brandishing a weapon...." extravaganza comes into play.

These days, not all weapons are visible....it could have been anything in her hand, or under her sweatshirt. When you see the new footage, you'll see that she "charges" the car and sticks her sign inside....at that point, she's now a threat.

The cops were wrong here to not pay attention when they were warned ahead of time.....we're told "if you see something, say something".....they're lucky it wasn't something bigger going on here.

 

[Turtle]

And so if it's a woman, instead of a man, that makes an attempt to "do something" to a public official, they shouldn't be restrained?

Restrained? Yes, quite probably. Thrown down and stomped on? No, probably not. But it also depends on what the "something" is.

How fast would the secret service take a woman down that appeared to be getting too close to the prez or other high-level public officials?

I dunno, somewhere in the 1.4 to 2.9 second range, I would expect. But Rand Paul isn't the prez or other high-level public official. He's on his own for personal security for the time being.

Again, I'll say that none of this justifies going too far in roughing her up but she has to share some of the responsibility for putting this thing in motion by trying to shove that sign into the window of the vehicle where Paul was sitting.

Well, if she was indeed trying to shove the sign into the window, and not up to it, then I agree. But then again, I don't think she should have been there in the first place, because it sets the table for something like this to happen, sign shoving or not. Passions can run high and tempers short at these things. It makes about as much sense as me scoring a prime seat in the Dog Pound for a Browns game, and then showing up wearing my Bengals jersey, and then whining when I get the snot beat out of me.

It could just have easily been a gun.....then what?

It could have been lots of things, but it wasn't. The guy who stomped on her could have had a gun and shot her, then what? What if someone had been in that house when the firefighters stood there and watched it burn? Than what? Well, there wasn't, so it doesn't matter. She didn't have a gun, so the fact that it could have been a gun doesn't matter, any more than it matters that it wasn't a shoe or a book, either.

 

[witness23]

These days, not all weapons are visible....it could have been anything in her hand, or under her sweatshirt. When you see the new footage, you'll see that she "charges" the car and sticks her sign inside....at that point, she's now a threat.

The cops were wrong here to not pay attention when they were warned ahead of time.....we're told "if you see something, say something".....they're lucky it wasn't something bigger going on here.

Seriously????? I have to point this out!!!! I knew this is where this would go, that is why I said,

"Just so everyone is clear, I have no problem detaining someone the way they did in the beginning of the video, but what Profitt did is unacceptable and an act of a coward."

Not one person in here has mentioned that she shouldn't have been detained.

Stop reading your other blogs and bringing those arguments into the Soapbox.

You don't step on a woman or man when they are on the ground being detained by others. WTF!!!!!

The story is about what Profitt did. Anyone else taking it somewhere else is just trying to justify his cowardly actions.

 

[bobwg]

Seriously????? I have to point this out!!!! I knew this is where this would go, that is why I said, Not one person in here has mentioned that she shouldn't have been detained.

Stop reading your other blogs and bringing those arguments into the Soapbox.

You don't step on a woman or man when they are on the ground being detained by others. WTF!!!!!

The story is about what Profitt did. Anyone else taking it somewhere else is just trying to justify his cowardly actions.

Just want to know if you are an expert at restraining a person? and i will say that I am not an expert either, though I did get some training in the military for dealing with and escorting prisoners as I was assigned to that duty at the Naval Great Lakes Training Center from what I saw on the video he was not using that much force on her just pushing down with his foot but not standing on her but again I was not there nor were you

 

[Turtle]

These days, not all weapons are visible....it could have been anything in her hand, or under her sweatshirt.

Well then why is Rand Paul or any other political candidate letting anyone get within 50 feet of his car? OMG! She could have had guns in her boobs like the girl robots in Austin Powers! OMG! What might have happened! Oh, wait, it's a sign.

When you see the new footage, you'll see that she "charges" the car and sticks her sign inside....at that point, she's now a threat.

A threat with a sign? Or a potential threat?

The cops were wrong here to not pay attention when they were warned ahead of time.....we're told "if you see something, say something".....they're lucky it wasn't something bigger going on here.

Depends on what their orders were. When they allegedly said it wasn't their job, it may very well not have been their job to act on an annoucement of "she was getting ready to do something." Cops generally don't do the same things that Secret Service or personal security does.

 

[dieseldiva]

Seriously????? I have to point this out!!!! I knew this is where this would go, that is why I said, Not one person in here has mentioned that she shouldn't have been detained.

Probably because until the thing was sorted out, indeed, she AND ALL OF THE OTHERS DIRECTLY INVOLVED should be detained.

Stop reading your other blogs and bringing those arguments into the Soapbox.

Why are you accusing me of stating others opinions? If I "bring" something into the soapbox, you'll have a link to it, you can be sure of that!

You don't step on a woman or man when they are on the ground being detained by others. WTF!!!!!

I don't see where anyone here has disagreed with you. I specifically said that what I was posting was in no way meant to make excuses for the man, I was merely giving you scenarios in which it could have been worse.

The story is about what Profitt did. Anyone else taking it somewhere else is just trying to justify his cowardly actions.

What you're trying to say here is that his REACTION to something that SHE DID is the only thing that should be considered and that's just not the way it works.

Again, no one is trying to justify his actions.

As Turtle said, she had no business being there......why would you go into a crowd of people that you so disagree with but only to "start something". She's with moveon.org, that says a lot right there.

 

[dieseldiva]

Take a look at these videos and make your own conclusions.

 

[Turtle]

Oh, she clearly telegraphed she was up to no good. After watching more about it on 4 different news networks, and hearing their own words, seeing the videos. She was in town for a few days and they knew it, and her, so they were ready and waiting for her to start something. And of course she didn't disappoint. But they also knew her well enough to know that she wasn't a threat, but a major PITA looking to stir trouble, same as those of both parties do at many of these political things. So knowing her already, they definitely overreacted, especially dood who stomped on her after she was fully restrained by others and not fighting it, utterly subdued and passive. "I placed my foot on her because I have a bad back," is worse than "the dog ate my homework" for an excuse.