Audrey Clement told The Post Millennial, “I believe the defendant is … totally psychotic and requires, at a minimum psychological evaluation and hospitalization.”
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A candidate in a local Virginia election was attacked while gathering signatures outside a library to run for the county board. Audrey Clement, running for Arlington County Board, was attacked on Saturday.
The incident took place just before 5 pm on Saturday, March 7, outside the Arlington Central Library in Virginia Square, according to ARLnow. Clement told the outlet that when she and an associate were wrapping up the day after gathering signatures, a man became irate when she asked him for his signature. He quickly turned violent.
Jonathan David Rogers, 47, was identified as the attacker and has been arrested and charged with malicious wounding as well as assault and battery.
“I said, ‘Have I asked you for your signature already?’ And he then came towards me and took a swing at me,” Clement said. “It was very quick. It was like you could see from the look in his eye that he was triggered.”
Clement said that although she turned away to absorb the impact of the punch, she was struck in the head by the man in his 40s. Another man named Joel then confronted the suspect.
“He saw what the guy did and he said, ‘You [expletive] [expletive], hitting a woman!’ And he charged my assailant,” Clement added. “They went down on the ground.” The suspect then pinned down the man who intervened in the situation, and then Clement’s associate, David Wingard, put the attacker in a chokehold. Another man named James, who was working in the library, helped Wingard hold down the suspect until police came on the scene.
Clement told The Post Millennial about her feelings after the incident: “I believe the defendant is in a very bad way psychologically. I think he’s totally psychotic and requires, at a minimum psychological evaluation and hospitalization.”
“The male victim, a bystander who witnessed the assault, intervened during which the suspect struck him, causing him to fall to the ground,” Arlington County Police Department said. “The suspect was then detained by two additional bystanders and was taken into custody by responding officers.”
“The female victim and two bystanders were evaluated and released by medics on scene,” the crime report continues. “The male victim sustained serious, non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to an area hospital. The suspect was also transported to an area hospital for further evaluation. Jonathan Rogers, 47, of Arlington, Va. was arrested and charged with Malicious Wounding and Assault and Battery.”
A police spokesperson confirmed that “the incident occurred while the female victim was attempting to obtain signatures for an upcoming election.”
Rogers remains in Arlington County Detention Facility on assault charges. Clement has run for office well over a dozen times since 2011 as an independent and has billed herself on a platform of opposing “Missing Middle” housing policy as well as excessive spending.
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