LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Three people who claim they were assaulted at the Donald Trump rally on March 1 have filed a civil lawsuit against Trump, his campaign, a white supremacist and a Korean War Veteran. Matthew Heimbach, a leader with the white supremacist Traditionalist Youth Network, is accused of assaulting Nwanguma and Shah. Alvin Bamberger, a 75-year-old Ohio resident, is accused of shoving Nwanguma while she was leaving the rally. He was wearing a uniform associated with the Korean War Veterans Association.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Jefferson Circuit Court, claims Kashiya Nwanguma, Molly Shah and Henry Brousseau were peacefully protesting at the Kentucky International Convention Center when Trump stopped his speech and told his supporters to “get ‘em out of here.”
Nwanguma, a 21-year-old University of Louisville student, claims she was protesting non-violently, carrying a sign depicting Trump’s face on the body of a pig. The lawsuit alleges Nwanguma was called racist and sexist slurs and repeatedly assaulted. Heimbach and Bamberger both shoved and struck her, according to the lawsuit. A video of the incident went viral soon after the rally.
Shah claims after one of Trump’s five comments urging supporters to throw out protestors, Heimbach and others rushed at her small group. Shah said she witnessed someone punch Brousseau and then she was shoved from behind by Heimbach as she began to leave.
Brousseau, a 17-year-old high school student, alleges he was punched in the stomach by a one of the Traditionalist Worker Party “comrades.” The suit includes “unknown defendant” as a party.
All three plaintiffs in the lawsuit have also filed criminal complaints with Louisville Metro Police. There have been no arrests as of yet.
In a blog post, Heimbach said he helped the crowd “drive out” Nwanguma, claiming she had initiated the incident by “pushing, shoving, barking, and screaming at the attendees for the better part of an hour."
The lawsuit says there is no evidence Nwanguma did any of this “because that simply didn’t happen.”
The lawsuit accused Trump of inciting a riot by directing his supporters to use force to remove protestors. The lawsuit identifies several other rallies in which there was violence, including in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Las Vegas, Nevada.
“I love the old days,” Trump is described as saying at the Las Vegas rally on Feb. 22. “You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They’d be carried out on a stretcher, folks.”
"Peaceful protest is an American tradition, especially in the context of presidential politics," Dan Canon, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, wrote in an email to WDRB.
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Bamberger later wrote a letter to the veteran’s association admitting his role in the assault, according to the lawsuit.
“Trump kept saying ‘get them out, get them out’ and people in the crowd began pushing and shoving the protestors,” Bamberger wrote. “”I physically pushed a young woman down the aisle toward the exit, an action I sincerely regret.”
Bamberger also claimed he did not know he was standing next to members of a white supremacy group, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Jefferson Circuit Court, claims Kashiya Nwanguma, Molly Shah and Henry Brousseau were peacefully protesting at the Kentucky International Convention Center when Trump stopped his speech and told his supporters to “get ‘em out of here.”
Nwanguma, a 21-year-old University of Louisville student, claims she was protesting non-violently, carrying a sign depicting Trump’s face on the body of a pig. The lawsuit alleges Nwanguma was called racist and sexist slurs and repeatedly assaulted. Heimbach and Bamberger both shoved and struck her, according to the lawsuit. A video of the incident went viral soon after the rally.
Shah claims after one of Trump’s five comments urging supporters to throw out protestors, Heimbach and others rushed at her small group. Shah said she witnessed someone punch Brousseau and then she was shoved from behind by Heimbach as she began to leave.
Brousseau, a 17-year-old high school student, alleges he was punched in the stomach by a one of the Traditionalist Worker Party “comrades.” The suit includes “unknown defendant” as a party.
All three plaintiffs in the lawsuit have also filed criminal complaints with Louisville Metro Police. There have been no arrests as of yet.
In a blog post, Heimbach said he helped the crowd “drive out” Nwanguma, claiming she had initiated the incident by “pushing, shoving, barking, and screaming at the attendees for the better part of an hour."
The lawsuit says there is no evidence Nwanguma did any of this “because that simply didn’t happen.”
The lawsuit accused Trump of inciting a riot by directing his supporters to use force to remove protestors. The lawsuit identifies several other rallies in which there was violence, including in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Las Vegas, Nevada.
“I love the old days,” Trump is described as saying at the Las Vegas rally on Feb. 22. “You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They’d be carried out on a stretcher, folks.”
"Peaceful protest is an American tradition, especially in the context of presidential politics," Dan Canon, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, wrote in an email to WDRB.
