WEST DES MOINES, Iowa —The campaign for GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy is pushing back against police accounts about an incident Thursday afternoon involving protesters and a car that reportedly struck a Ramaswamy campaign vehicle.
As the 38-year-old entrepreneur arrived for a campaign event at a café in Grinnell, Iowa a group of “peaceful protesters,” according to the campaign, was picketing. Campaign spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told The Iowa Star that the protesters were demonstrating against Ramaswamy’s position that the U.S. should send no further military aid to Ukraine and his call for a brokered peace between Ukraine and Russia to end the war Russia launched in February 2022.
During the protest, two people standing among the demonstrators got into their car, “flipped off Vivek, screamed profanities at him, laid on their car horn, and then reverse-rammed into the Vivek’s campaign’s SUV which was parked behind them,” the campaign said in a statement. “Two members of Vivek’s staff immediately photographed the car’s license plate and filed a police report.”
No one was injured.
Here are the protestors flicking us off as they laid on the horn and yelled “fu** you,” among other profanities, before reverse-ramming their car into ours. The police never contacted us about the statement. https://t.co/CFsatVY5FO pic.twitter.com/bmBVGDT3Ug
— Tricia McLaughlin (@TriciaOhio) October 6, 2023
The Grinnell Police Department quickly refuted the campaign’s account of the incident.
“It was reported on social media that two protesters intentionally rammed into Ramaswamy’s vehicle and fled the scene. Our investigation has revealed no evidence to to substantiate that information,” a special media release from the Grinnell Police Department states.
The report states 22-year-old Celia Meagher of Grinnell told police she had just eaten lunch at a nearby deli, got into her blue 2007 Honda Civic with Minnesota license plates and backed out of her parking spot. Police say she “accidentally” made contact with the Ramaswamy campaign’s black 2023 Ford Expedition. The impact caused minor damage to both vehicles. Police filled out a report and Meagher was cited for unsafe backing.
Meagher is a Grinnell College student and artist set to graduate next year, according to the school.
She told the student newspaper, the Scarlet & Black, that the incident was “not an intentional accident.”
“It was truly just an accident. We were completely unaffiliated with the protestors, ” Nic Grofsorean, class of 2024 and Meagher’s partner, told the newspaper.
“Anyone having any additional information related to this accident is asked to contact the Grinnell Police Department,” the press release states.
The Ramaswamy campaign had additional information, including video and photos apparently showing the suspect honking and flipping off Ramaswamy.
“Without contacting anyone on Vivek’s campaign, or speaking to eyewitnesses including the campaign security guard, or reviewing video footage obtained by witnesses, the Grinnell Police Department this evening issued a statement suggesting that the individuals who rammed the SUV were not protestors,” the campaign press release states. “This is puzzling since video and photo evidence, along with eyewitness accounts – including the campaign’s security guard – confirm that the individuals were standing side-by-side with protestors before entering their car, used profane gestures and language and shouted from the car, and honked their car horn as they reversed their vehicle into the campaign SUV.”
“We are thankful no one was injured and look forward to sharing these facts with the Grinnell Police Department who has still not contacted the campaign and could not be reached by phone this evening.”
Grinnell law enforcement officials and the Poweshiek County Sheriff’s office did not return a call seeking comment.
The story hit the Associated Press Thursday evening with the headline, “Ramaswamy Says Angry Protesters Rammed His Car in Iowa; Police Say No Evidence Crash was Intentional.”
“The police account of the crash in the central Iowa city of Grinnell sharply diverged from the story told earlier by Ramaswamy’s campaign, which contended that protesters yelled and swore at the candidate before at least one of them jumped into a vehicle, rammed his empty campaign car and sped off,” AP reported.
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Image “Ramaswamy Protestors” by Tricia McLaughlin.
