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A Providence police officer running for state office as a Republican left the race Saturday amid a criminal investigation for punching his Democratic opponent in the face during a protest over the abortion.
Rhode Island Political Cooperative President Jennifer Rourke was one of the people who spoke at a protest Friday night in front of the State House following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to end the law to abortion. As tensions rose between protesters and counter-protesters, Rourke, who is running as a Democrat for a seat in the State Senate in Warwick, RI, found himself not far from his Republican opponent, Jeann Lugo, a Providence police officer. which was out of service.
The video posted on social media shows people exchanging punches in a chaotic scene. During the fight, a man is seen who Rourke says is Lugo punching him in the face.
“Last night, after speaking at our Roe rally, my Republican opponent, a police officer, violently attacked me,” Rourke wrote on Twitter. “That’s what it’s like to be a black woman running for office. I’m not going to give up.”
I am an organizer of reproductive rights and a candidate for the State Senate. Last night, after speaking at our Roe rally, my Republican opponent, a police officer, violently attacked me.
This is what it is like to be a black woman running for office. I will not surrender.pic.twitter.com/ZREDP2dvXY
– Jennifer Rourke (@ JenRourke29) June 25, 2022
Lugo, a three-year veteran of the department, has been placed on administrative leave and is now under criminal investigation, Lindsay Logue, a public safety spokeswoman for Rhode Island, told the Washington Post. Rourke told the Providence Journal that he is trying to file charges of assault.
“The Providence Police Department is criminally investigating the behavior of an off-duty Providence police officer last night during a protest at the Rhode Island State House where a woman was assaulted,” Logue said in a statement.
When video of the incident went viral on Saturday, Lugo announced it was suspending its campaign for the state Senate.
“I will not run for office this fall,” he tweeted.
Lugo appeared to close his Twitter account on Saturday afternoon.
Rourke did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.
Before Lugo announced he would leave the race, he told The Post that he, as an officer, was “in a situation where no individual had to be seen.”
“I intervened to protect someone that a group of agitators was attacking,” he wrote in an email. “Right now, there is a pending internal investigation, and as the facts of the incident come to light, I ask that my family and I have privacy.”
The incident happened as Washington and coastal cities were preparing for a second day of huge street demonstrations on Saturday after the verdict was received with a burst of joy and anger Friday night. Demonstrations that began on Friday were largely peaceful, although tensions in some protests rose in some places.
Protests over the abortion continue after the Supreme Court ends Roe v. Wade
In Phoenix, police fired tear gas at abortion rights supporters who demonstrated in front of the Arizona Capitol, the video showed. The Arizona Department of Public Safety said protesters were knocking on the windows of the state Senate, and some were trying to break the glass. Although the protest was mostly peaceful, police said the meeting was an illegal assembly, according to the Republic of Arizona.
Police in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, are investigating a Friday night incident in which a van began driving toward protesters and hit a woman.
As protesters crossed the street in downtown Cedar Rapids, a verbal confrontation ensued between a protester and the driver of a Ford truck, police said. The video showed protesters standing in front of the truck when the vehicle accelerated and hit a protester. Then the vehicle left.
Authorities said it was unclear if the act was intentional, but protesters told KCRG that the driver passed a red light and approached a group of people. No criminal charges had been filed until Saturday. The battered person was taken to a hospital for an evaluation, KCRG reported.
After the Supreme Court’s decision was announced, Rourke, an organizer of women’s reproductive rights, wrote on Facebook that she would speak in a protest in front of the State House in Providence with other people who were angry and crushed by the sentence of Women’s health Dobbs v. Jackson.
“We can’t sit back and watch the clock roll back in our rights,” he wrote Friday. “So tonight you will join us at 8 pm at [State] House to be together and prove that we will not be defeated?
The video released by journalist Bill Bartholomew shows supporters and opponents of abortion rights arguing in front of the State House Friday night. It looks like Rourke is trying to escalate the tension situation, the video shows.
But when a counter-protester leaves, a fight breaks out between the group, according to the video.
Rourke posted a clip of Bartholomew’s video in slow motion on social media showing how she was hit in the face. She told the Journal that Lugo hit her at least twice.
Lugo did not deny hitting Rourke in the Journal. She said Rourke had become physical with him, which she has denied.
“To me, this seems like an act of political violence similar to the acts of violence we’ve seen in the United States,” Rourke told the media.
Lugo has faced criticism from local leaders, including the mayor of Providence, Jorge Elorza (D). Elorza noted in a statement that he was limited in what he could say publicly because of the law enforcement rights statement, which offers protection to police when faced with a disciplinary review.
“That said, I’ve seen the video and it’s immensely disturbing,” Elorza said. “Those responsible will be fully responsible.”
Less than 24 hours after the abortion protest incident, Rourke expressed his disappointment at the Boston Globe because the violence he has seen affected other past demonstrations in Providence.
“It’s frustrating when you try to have something peaceful and it becomes something like that,” he said. “I’ve seen things happen all over the country and I never thought that would happen to me here or me.”