Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe mentioned he was punched within the chest by a person throughout a confrontation Tuesday that had racial overtones.
Thorpe advised The Occasions on Wednesday that the incident occurred after he gave a speech at an occasion hosted by the Antioch Chamber of Commerce. Thorpe mentioned he was on the brink of go away the State of Enterprise luncheon on the Lone Tree Golf Course and Occasion Heart when he was approached by a white man in his late 50s. Thorpe, who's Black, mentioned he knew the person, who had attended Metropolis Council conferences up to now.
He mentioned the person referenced a publish on a conservative information weblog that talked about Thorpe not being current at a current Metropolis Council assembly.
“I do know the gentleman and he’s your typical MAGA, right-wing man who’s simply not comfortable,” Thorpe mentioned. “He’s simply an older white man who’s not comfortable that Antioch has a majority-Black Metropolis Council.”
After getting right into a heated dialogue, Thorpe mentioned that he tried to stroll away however that when he circled, the person was nonetheless speaking and had gotten too near him.
“The subsequent factor I do know, he’s placing his hand right into a fist, and he hits me within the chest,” Thorpe mentioned. “He tries to try this a second time, and I mentioned, ‘Don’t contact me. Don’t put your fingers on me.’ ”
Councilwoman Tamisha Torres-Walker acquired in between the 2 males whereas Dominique King, an Antioch faculty board candidate, escorted the person away, in keeping with Thorpe, who added that he's feeling bodily OK after the incident.
“I’m at a loss,” he mentioned. “I simply couldn’t imagine he did that. After that second, it was simply being in a daze. Why was it even mandatory for it to escalate like that?”
King mentioned she walked out and noticed Thorpe and the person having a “heated trade,” however didn’t know what they had been arguing about. She confirmed that she requested the person if he would stroll away together with her, which he did.
King mentioned that she hadn’t witnessed the assault and that when she‘d arrived, it was “simply verbal at that time.”
Thorpe mentioned he filed a police report after the incident and that officers are nonetheless conducting an investigation.
The Antioch Police Division didn’t instantly reply to a request for info Wednesday. Authorities haven't publicly recognized the person concerned.
Thorpe mentioned he and the person who hit him had disagreed on a number of points up to now.
“He was a proponent of constitution colleges and was towards us housing homeless folks in a lodge,” Thorpe continued. “He’s been a robust opponent of a few of my measures to assist folks.”
Thorpe mentioned he had walked towards the person as a result of he didn’t assume he was harmful, however has been “trying on the issues they do to me in comparison with our final mayor, who was white, and this stuff would’ve by no means occurred to him.”
Thorpe mentioned he had been threatened by a person at a restaurant, who advised him, “You should watch out about what you do,” and needed to textual content one in all his neighbors for assist. He additionally mentioned that individuals have proven up at his home and set his fence on hearth.
The town has reckoned with racist incidents in its previous by apologizing to early Chinese language immigrants and their descendants after the Chinatown was burned down greater than a century in the past.
“We had been one of many authentic sunset cities,” Thorpe mentioned. “Within the late ’80s and ’90s, Black folks weren’t allowed to be in Antioch after darkish. A few of these folks grew up right here and that is regular. We’re seeing folks of shade truly be in these areas, have an opinion and people opinions are affecting public coverage and that actually bothers them.”
Thorpe has confronted controversy up to now yr, together with a failed recall try final December. He was additionally cited by authorities in March for driving inebriated and charged with two DUI-related misdemeanors.
Fellow council members have referred to as for Thorpe’s resignation in current weeks after an unbiased investigation substantiated allegations of sexual harassment made towards Thorpe by two workers of the now-defunct Los Medanos Healthcare District, the place Thorpe beforehand labored. Thorpe has denied all the allegations and mentioned the investigation didn’t embrace all doable witnesses.
Post a Comment