BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — There’s more fallout from the altercation between a protester and people attending a Donald Trump appearance in Birmingham from over the weekend. One of the protesters and her attorney tell WIAT 42 News that they want to press charges.
Video of the clash is getting national attention. It reportedly shows protester Mercutio Southall go to the ground during a scuffle involving people at the rally.
During the commotion, from the podium on the opposite side of the room, Donald Trump can be heard saying “Yeah, get ‘em out. Get ‘em the hell out of here. Get ‘em out of here.”
We spoke with one of the three protesters who were at the event and her attorney.
Alecha Irby says they are working to identify the other people in the video involved in the altercation and plan to press charges.
Irby, a protester and Miles College student, has strong words for the Republican presidential candidate.
“Trump can go to hell. How about that?” said Irby.
“We started chanting or whatever about ‘Dump the Trump’ and ‘Black Lives Matter,’ and by that time, it was a group of white people, a group of Trump supporters, that started surrounding us. One of the protesters, Mercutio Southall, went up a little further, and so they tackled him down,” Irby said. “One lady kicked him, one lady punched him — well, another person punched him — I don’t know if it was a male or female, nd before we could see what had happened to Mercutio, we’re already being surrounded by white people, well Trump supporters, and they were already pushing us around…”
“Everybody that assaulted us, we’re seeking arrest. And we’ve got the videos and we’re seeking arrest for it,” she continued.
Selma attorney Rose Sanders said, “When they called and told me what happened, I told them as their attorney and a mentor that we are going to capture every picture of the person that unlawfully placed their hands on their bodies, and we’re going to seek their arrest for assault and harassment.”
“And as an attorney and a mentor I’m going to do everything I can, As a matter of fact, I’m going to investigate whether or not Mr. Trump has committed a crime. Because if he incited and encouraged the crowd to attack these young people, under Alabama law, that very well might be a crime,” Sanders continued.
We spoke with Lt. Sean Edwards of the Birmingham Police Department about the incident.
Monday afternoon Lt. Edwards said police have already reached out to Mercutio Southall to see if he would like to press charges, but that he had not responded.
WIAT 42 News reached out to a spokesperson for the Trump campaign Monday afternoon, but at press time had not received a response.
Copyright 2015 WIAT 42 News
