Texas Police To Pay $175,000 For Refusing To Respond To Reports Of Cultists Menacing Biden Campaign Bus

October 19, 2023 Police, Trump cultists

The Texas Tribune reports:

San Marcos police officers and professional staff must receive training on responding to political violence and voter intimidation and ways to develop community trust as part of a legal settlement approved Tuesday over a 2020 incident in which a caravan of Trump supporters were accused of harassing a Biden campaign bus as it drove on Interstate 35.

The city will also pay $175,000 to four individuals on the bus: former state Sen. Wendy Davis, who was running for Congress at the time; former Biden campaign staffer David Gins; campaign volunteer Eric Cervini; and bus driver Timothy Holloway.

They accused San Marcos law enforcement in a 2021 lawsuit of ignoring multiple requests for a police escort as they traveled on I-35 from San Antonio to Austin days before the 2020 presidential election. They said they were surrounded by the Trump supporters who allegedly drove dangerously close to the bus while honking and shouting..

Law & Crime reports:

“For at least ninety minutes, including during the entirety of the stretch of I-35 inside the San Marcos city lines, the Trump Train pursued and terrorized the Plaintiffs. Plaintiffs tried to get help. They repeatedly called 911. They requested police escorts,” the complaint alleged.

“San Marcos refused to help. From the moment dispatch received 911 calls pleading for help, the City of San Marcos chose not to mount a response. Instead, according to text messages and 911 audio recordings obtained by Plaintiffs, they privately laughed and joked about the victims and their distress, including by calling them ‘tards,’ making fun of a campaign staffer’s ‘hard’ breathing, and retorting they should just ‘drive defensively’ or ‘leave the train.’”

Courthouse News reports:

A convoy of at least 40 Trump Train members – American flags and “Trump 2020 – Keep America Great” flags affixed to the tailgates of their pickup trucks – boxed the bus in on Interstate 35 while honking, yelling and making obscene gestures at the Democrats on board. Some of them had their phones out livestreaming the pursuit on social media.

For 90 minutes they surrounded the bus and forced its driver to slow down to 15 to 25 mph. The driver finally escaped the convoy by swerving onto a freeway exit in Austin. The campaign then canceled all remaining events on the tour.

Back in April, Trump cultists involved in the harassment agreed to settle a lawsuit against them for an undisclosed amount. Multiple prominent Republicans celebrated the incident. Trump himself tweeted one video, proclaiming “I love Texas!” Trump later declared that the FBI should not investigate the attack, saying, “Those patriots did nothing wrong.”



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