A Rhode Island police officer running as a Republican for the state Senate dropped out of the race after his arrest on charges of hitting his Democratic opponent in the face during an abortion protest.
“I will not run for any office this fall,” Providence official Jeann Lugo wrote in a tweet on Saturday. deactivate his Twitter account.
Lugo, a three-year Providence police veteran, was placed on administrative leave, when he was arrested by state police on Saturday after a video appeared showing him hitting his campaign opponent, Jennifer Rourke, during a large rally at State House on Friday against Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling. Lugo was then off duty.
Lugo, 35, has been charged with simple assault and disorderly conduct, state police said in a statement. He was released on his own admission after surrendering to a state police barracks and being arrested. He is due to appear in court on July 8.
The morning after the protest, Rourke, chairwoman of the progressive Rhode Island Political Cooperative, tweeted that her “Republican opponent – a police officer – had attacked me violently. This is what it is like to be a black woman who prefers the office. I will not give up. ”
Before falling out, Lugo said in an email to The Washington Post that he “stood up during the protest to protect someone who is attacking a group of rioters”. He did not provide any other details.
Video posted by journalist Bill Bartholomew shows abortion rights supporters and opponents fighting in front of the State House on Friday night. It looks like Rourke is trying to deflect the increasingly tense situation. But a fight breaks out and Rourke is punched in the face.
She told the Providence Journal she had been hit by Lugo at least twice.
Another man and a woman were also arrested during the protest on charges of disorderly conduct, police said. The man was also charged with carrying a weapon other than a firearm and resisting arrest.
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