Originally posted by Adam_PoE
As supporters of Donald Trump surrounded and harassed a Joe Biden campaign bus on a Central Texas highway last year, San Marcos police officials and 9-1-1 dispatchers fielded multiple requests for assistance from Democratic campaigners and bus passengers who said they feared for their safety from a pack of motorists, known as a "Trump Train," which was driving in dangerously aggressive ways."San Marcos refused to help," an amended federal lawsuit over the 2020 freeway skirmish claims. Transcribed 9-1-1 audio recordings and documents that reveal behind-the-scenes communications among law enforcement and dispatchers were included in the amended lawsuit, filed late Friday. The amended filing also states that in those audio recordings, law enforcement officers "privately laughed" and "joked about the victims and their distress."
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 harassed 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 Senator 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 drove dangerously close to the bus while honking and shouting.
"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 9-1-1. They requested police escorts," the complaint states.
"San Marcos refused to help. From the moment dispatch received 9-1-1 calls pleading for help, the City of San Marcos chose not to mount a response. Instead, according to text messages and 9-1-1 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.'"
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.
In April, TrumpTards 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.