Randy Horton Jr., 53, of Spruce Pine has been charged with assault inflicting serious injury following a dispute at the No Kings protest in Burnsville June 14.
According to a Thursday press release from the Burnsville Police Department, Horton was placed under a $5,000 secured bond after being taken before the magistrate.
In an interview, Burnsville Police Chief Brian Buchanan said that his department took statements from more than 10 witnesses to an altercation between Horton and alleged victim Norman Rabek, 73, of Burnsville.
Horton is accused of shoving Rabek to the ground after Rabek allegedly struck his vehicle with a flag he was carrying; Rabek reportedly was injured when his head hit the pavement.
“This is a point that’s under contention — whether it’s a shove,” Buchanan said.
According to Buchanan, Horton maintains that he merely struggled with Rabek over the flag he was carrying during the dispute.
“Mr. Rabek fell, hit his head; he had to have some staples, (and) he’s been released from the hospital,” Buchanan said.
Spruce Pine businesswoman Cami Leisk participated in the protest and was quite close to Rabek when the altercation began.
“I was right there — I was the first to him when he fell down,” Leisk said.
Leisk said that she was standing on the sidewalk in front of the crosswalk where the altercation took place; she saw Rabek crossing the road in the crosswalk carrying a flag on a pole when Horton allegedly drove into the crosswalk in his red Jeep.
“The guy in that big red Jeep was getting close to the crosswalk,” she said. “The Jeep kind of nudged him (Rabek).”
Leisk said that she could not see from where she was standing whether or not the Jeep made physical contact with Rabek, but that it was close enough that Rabek was forced to jump out of its way, at which point Rabek allegedly struck the vehicle with his flagpole.
Leisk said the Jeep’s driver then stopped and got out.
“He exited his vehicle and started to grab the flag out of his (Rabek’s) hand, and then just pushed him — really violently — to the ground,” Leisk said.
Leisk said that when she saw the Jeep driving into the crosswalk she thought it was going to run into someone, and she took out her cellphone to record what happened, but it all happened so fast she was not able to record most of what she saw.
“Before I could record, the older man was on the ground,” she said.
Leisk said the impact of Rabek’s fall was audible.
“I heard it — you know, the sound when you hear someone’s skull hit something,” she said. “We used somebody’s jacket to stop the bleeding.”
Leisk said that although Rabek looked stunned for a moment, he was able to talk to people around quite clearly.
“He wasn’t knocked out, but he was bleeding from the back of his head pretty real,” she said.
Leisk said the red Jeep had already circled the square a few times before the altercation occurred.
“It was a red Jeep truck, and in the back there’s like Trump flags … there’s like this effigy of (President Donald) Trump pointing a fake assault rifle at the crowd,” she said. “He had circled the area four or five times, being aggressive, flipping people off.”