Democratic Party officials aboard a Joe Biden campaign bus filed lawsuits over the summer against law enforcement and members of the so-called “Trump Train” over the freeway incident that took the nation by storm in the run up to the November election, where Trump supporters surrounded the bus as it traveled to a campaign stop — Biden was not aboard at the time.
According to 911 transcripts filed in the amended federal lawsuit, San Marcos police refused to escort the Biden campaign bus.
“For at least 90 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,” the updated lawsuit claims. “Plaintiffs tried to get help. They repeatedly called 911. They requested police escorts. San Marcos refused to help.”
The update includes transcribed 911 audio recordings and documents of behind-the-scenes communications between dispatchers and law enforcement, according to the Texas Tribune. The plaintiffs are attempting to show that San Marcos police leaders chose not to provide a police escort multiple times, even though police departments in other nearby cities did.
San Marcos Police Corporal Matthew Daenzer is featured in one transcribed recording saying they will “close patrol” the bus, but will not provide an escort.
“No, we’re not going to do it,” Daenzer told a 911 dispatcher, according to the amended filing. “We will ‘close patrol’ that, but we’re not going to escort a bus.”
The article noted that the amended filing also claimed that law enforcement officers “privately laughed” in the audio recordings, and “joked about the victims and their distress.”
Daenzer and SMPD Assistant Chief of Operations Brandon Winkenwerder were added to the amended lawsuit.
There was a minor collision Democrats claimed was a vehicle being “rammed” by a Trump supporter in a black truck, but the facts don’t support the accusation. Footage capturing the incident clearly showed the SUV intentionally traveling into the lane occupied by the pro-Trump truck. The San Marcos Police Department appears to confirm as much in a statement: “The at-fault vehicle may be the white SUV and the victim appears to be the black truck.”
‘These patriots did nothing wrong’: Trump weighs in on FBI probe of supporters escorting Biden bus https://t.co/BkFeLNxuGd pic.twitter.com/h8jol0HTRa
— Conservative News (@BIZPACReview) November 2, 2020
Among the plaintiffs are former state Sen. Wendy Davis and other Texas Democrats who were aboard the bus campaigning for Biden last fall when it was surrounded and followed by supporters of former President Donald Trump.
The plaintiffs argue the Trump supporters engaged in political intimidation when they surrounded the Biden campaign bus in October, in violation of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, the Tribune reported.
The lawsuit filed in federal court targets at least seven members of the so-called “Trump Train,” who followed the bus, and law enforcement who “turned a blind eye to the attack — despite pleas for help — and failed to provide the bus a police escort,” according to Protect Democracy, which is representing the plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs also claim the Trump supporters were yelling death threats and “bragging about their aggressive driving.” In addition to Davis, the plaintiffs include David Gins, who now serves as deputy director for operations for Vice President Kamala Harris, campaign volunteer Eric Cervini and the bus driver, Timothy Holloway.
The group allegedly continues to suffer psychological and emotional injury from the event, and Holloway “has been unable to drive a bus following the experience,” the Tribune noted.
The bus was being escorted by New Braunfels police, who reportedly tried to get San Marcos to take over when they entered their jurisdiction.
More from the Tribune:
The 911 dispatcher in San Marcos put the New Braunfels dispatcher and the Biden campaign staffer who was pleading for assistance on hold and called Daenzer, the police supervisor on duty.
“I am so annoyed at New Braunfels for doing this to us,” the dispatcher tells Daenzer, who answered the call and began laughing, according to the transcribed recording in the filing. “They have their officers escorting this Biden bus, essentially, and the Trump Train is cutting in between vehicles and driving — being aggressive and slowing them down to like 20 or 30 miles per hour. And they want you guys to respond to help.”
“No, we’re not going to do it. We will ‘close patrol’ that, but we’re not going to escort a bus,” Daenzer responds.
The dispatcher said the campaign staffer who called was “like really worked up over it and he’s like breathing hard and stuff, like, ‘they’re being really aggressive.'”
Daenzer said the bus should “drive defensively and it’ll be great,” according to the transcripts, prompting the dispatcher to reply, “Or leave the train. There’s an idea.”
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