Lawyer rebuts woman's story of being punched after Trump rally
ASHEVILLE - A lawyer for a South Carolina man who police say assaulted a 69-year-old woman after Monday's Donald Trump rally is rebutting the woman's story, saying she made "multiple false statements."
Asheville Attorney Ruth Smith on Wednesday said her client Richard Campbell, 73, of Edisto Island, South Carolina, never hit protester Shirley Teter as Teter and witnesses reported. Smith has indicated Campbell might sue in civil court.
"She assaulted him. You can’t come up to strangers especially in that environment and grab them from behind," Smith said.
Campbell is being represented by another attorney, Jack Stewart of Asheville, in criminal court for the assault charge. Stewart did not return a phone call Wednesday.
Smith said Campbell planned to surrender peacefully to Asheville police who issued a warrant for his arrest for assault on a female.
The Citizen-Times tried to reach Campbell by phone Tuesday after police announced they had taken out a warrant for the retired electrical engineer for assaulting Teter, a downtown resident who has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and carries an oxygen tank to help her breathe.
Teter was among protesters gathered outside the U.S. Cellular Center as Trump eventgoers were leaving. Protesters pressed in on both sides, and the situation turned heated as some shouted at rally attendees and some Trump supporters responded.
Teter said she was telling supporters that "they better learn Russian" and that Campbell turned and struck her jaw with his fist. Several witnesses also said Campbell turned and struck her.
Smith, though, said Campbell only acted defensively. She said he was in town with his wife to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary and that they had extended their stay after they heard Trump was coming. Campbell has poor vision from cataracts and was being led out of the rally by his wife, the attorney said.
She said as Campbell and his wife were leaving they noticed liquid on their clothes they thought was saliva. Soon after that Teter approached Campbell from behind and grabbed his left shoulder, Smith said, and Campbell "reflexively moved his arm to release himself from Ms. Teeter’s (sic) grip," causing Teter to fall to the ground.
Tuesday, a day after the encounter, Teter strongly denied ever touching Campbell. She repeated that Wednesday.
"I had no personal reason to touch him. I had no personal reason to hold him back so I could say more to him," she said.
Witness William Fiesser told the Citizen-Times late Monday night that he saw the incident and that Teter did touch Campbell, but that Campbell also struck Teter.
"I tried to get in between and intervene. The next thing I knew she tapped him on the arm and he turned around and absolutely decked her," Fiesser said.
Fiesser said he didn't know "if the blow was premeditated or reflexive or what."
Smith referred to video posted on Facebook showing Campbell leaving with his wife. At one point he stumbles. Smith said that is because of his vision. The camera turns and Teter is shown walking behind Campbell and she appears to reach forward with her left arm. Smith said the video shows her touching Campbell, though the angle makes it difficult to see. At that point, the camera cuts away in a shaky fashion.
Other video footage shows Campbell walking away and a man pursuing and shouting. Another man gets between him and Campbell.
Police said they took no action immediately after the event because they didn't see it happen.
Teter said she later went to the hospital where she stayed until 2 a.m. She had a scraped elbow and her jaw and ribs were sore, she said. Hospital staff gave her papers about her injuries, which she hadn't reviewed, as well as painkillers, she said.
Smith said the lack of bruising on Teter's jaw proves that she was not struck there. She noted a photo that showed Teter after the incident smiling at the protest with a bandaged arm.
Teter acknowledged there was no bruising, but insisted she was punched there. Witness Matt Price, one of the original people to post the incident on Facebook, said he got a picture of "what really appears to be dark red punch spot on her face."
Smith would not say whether Campbell hired her, saying she would not reveal that aspect of their attorney-client relationship.
Smith first commented about the incident in an interview with Breitbart News in which she said Teter "made up the whole thing" and called her statements "slanderous" and said Campbell might sue for malicious prosecution, libel and slander.
Breitbart has had an odd relationship with the Trump campaign and is often seen as friendly to the Republican candidate. A Breitbart reporter quit after she said she was assaulted at a rally by a campaign employee and the news organization didn't back her up. Later the Breitbart chairman became Trump's campaign manager.
A Charleston Post and Courier story on the incident reported that Campbell's criminal history consists of one domestic violence conviction for a 1992 incident. Smith said the conviction wasn't relevant because it happened more than 20 years ago.
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