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Lawsuit Filed Against Trump Over Violence at Kentucky Rally

Donald Trump
AP
April 1, 2016

Donald Trump and his campaign were hit with a lawsuit Thursday after three people claimed they were attacked at one of his rallies in Kentucky.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of three protestors who attended a Trump rally in March who allege that the GOP presidential hopeful encourages an atmosphere of violence, NBC News reported.

Trump has said that he does not condone violence among supporters, but presidential candidates on both sides of the aisle have criticized the Republican frontrunner for repeated instances of violence at his events.

The lawsuit also names two men as defendants, one of them allegedly belonging to a "white nationalist" group, who assaulted one of the three protestors during the March 1 rally in Louisville, Kentucky.

The suit was filed on behalf of a 17-year-old high school student, a 21-year-old college student, and a 36-year-old activist.

In an online video, crowd members are seen pushing Kashiya Nwanguma, a student at the University of Louisville. The suit alleges that one member punched her while others are accused of yelling racial slurs at her.

"Each time he said ‘get them out,’ Trump intended for his supporters to use unwanted, harmful physical violence to remove protesters," the suit reads, according to NBC.

The suit also cites previous Trump comments about paying legal fees for violent supporters and his former suggestion that some protesters deserve to get "roughed up."

The lawsuit comes two days after local police announced in a statement that a 15-year-old girl had been groped by a man before being pepper-sprayed by another individual in the crowd during a Trump rally in Janesville, Wisconsin, on March 29.

That same day, Florida police charged Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, with misdemeanor battery after he allegedly aggressively grabbed the arm of former Breitbart News reporter Michelle Fields earlier this month.

Trump called reports of violence at his rallies a "media fabrication" in an interview with People magazine Wednesday. The Daily Beast meanwhile reported that since January 2016, "police-reported criminal activity," including assault, has occurred during at least 12 rallies, leading to 55 arrests or citations.

Published under: Donald Trump , Violence