A man was arraigned Wednesday on multiple charges, according to police, after allegedly assaulting a 69-year-old man holding a sign in support for President Donald Trump on Election Day near a polling station in Massachusetts.
The Cotuit, Cape Cod, man was identified as 32-year-old Bladen Tisdell and was taken into custody by officers with the Barnstable Police Department on Tuesday. He was charged with assault and battery on a person over the age of 60 as well as disorderly conduct, the Boston Globe reported, citing the police department.
Authorities responded to a call Tuesday afternoon at approximately 2 p.m. about a “bearded man” allegedly starting a fight with an elderly man near a voting poll located close to the Osterville Fire Station.
Once police arrived at the scene, the victim told the officers that a young male with a beard started shouting at him from inside his black pickup truck because he was showing support for Trump by holding a “Trump 2020” sign.
The altercation allegedly intensified after Tisdell asked the victim “three things Trump has done for this country” while he got out of his car and started to approach the man standing near a roadside with his sign, according to the report.
The report says as the man started answering Tisdell’s question about his opinions on Trump’s accomplishments, he grabbed the sign from the victim’s hands and smashed it on the ground.
The suspect then grabbed the man with both hands and shook him, police said. As he threw the sign on the ground he also shoved the man backward.
The victim said he did not get injured in the altercation and refused medical attention provided by authorities.
Police told the Cape Cod Times the incident was witnessed by the victim’s wife who also described the situation to officers.
Barnstable Police Lieutenant Michael Clark located Tisdell and the suspected vehicle that same afternoon at a parking lot in Osterville.
Tisdell was positively identified by the assault victim as the person of interest, police said.
