Man arrested for sucker punch of black Trump supporter at Laguna Beach rally
LAGUNA BEACH, CA (FOX 11) - Laguna Beach police arrested a man for allegedly sucker punching a Trump supporter during competing rallies at Main Beach on Sunday.
20-year-old Richard Losey was arrested Tuesday evening and charged with battery and terroristic threats.
Video captured Losey allegedly punching R.C. Maxwell while he wasn't looking.
Maxwell spoke to FOX 11 on Wednesday, saying that the attack was unprovoked.
"If the optics were completely different and I was a black lives matter supporter and I was attacked on the Trump side of a protest I would be in the spotlight on CNN right now," Maxwell said. "I went over to the left side to see if I could engage them with dialogue and I was instantly encircled by the so called anti fascists."
In the days after the assault, Losey appeared to identify himself on Twitter, admitting that he punched Maxwell because he wouldn't stop talking about Donald Trump, and replying "arrest me, lmfao" when someone called for his arrest.
"I think the fact that I'm a black conservative causes a lot of problems for the left side because there's no way they can really resolve that according to their narrative of what they think trump supporters are, so I think that was a bit triggering to the other side," Maxwell said. "I was getting lots of specific comments like you're a sellout, you're an Uncle Tom."
FOX 11 tried to interview Maxwell on Sunday after he was shoved by a counter protester.
Shortly after the interview began, Maxwell was surrounded before being verbally harassed.
"I was in a pinball machine full of Antifa, it was a little scary but I was being bold and not adversarial," Maxwell said. "You just wanted to ask me a couple questions about what was happening and we couldn't even conduct an interview. "Dialogue is being shut down and free speech is being attacked and it's being attacked by so called peaceful protesters under the name anti fascists."
Richard Losey was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor battery with a hate-crime enhancement, according to Laguna Beach police with a $500 bond.
His next appearance in court is on Thursday.
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