Rand Paul Supporters / KY Tea Partiers Attack A Female Protester. One Curb-Stomps Her Head!

On October 25, 2010, protesters and supporters of the candidates for Kentucky's open senate seat - Democrat Jack Conway and Republican Rand Paul - gathered for the final debate before November 2nd's election. Before the debate began and outside the auditorium where it was scheduled to take place, a MoveOn.org protester named Lauren Valle was assaulted by a mob of Rand Paul supporters and Tea Partiers as she protested the arrival of Rand Paul. One of the assailants, Mike Pazzano of Frankfurt, KY, grabbed hold of Ms. Valle and threw her to the ground. As Mr. Pazzano forcibly restrained Ms. Valle with her face pushed against the concrete, another Paul supporter, Tim Profitt of Paris, KY repeatedly stomped on Ms. Valle's head and neck. (Prior to the assault, Mr. Profitt worked as Rand Paul's Bourbon County Campaign Coordinator).

Ms. Valle was later taken to the hospital where doctors determined she had suffered a concussion and shoulder injuries as a result of the assault. As of October 26th, Mr. Profitt has been issued a court summons for his attack. He may be subject to felony and/or misdemeanor assault charges. Police have yet to charge Mr. Pezzano for his role in the assault, though they have not ruled such charges out.

In response to the violence perpetrated by his supporters, Rand Paul decried violence generally, claiming passions on both sides were running high, but stopped short of issuing an explicit condemnation of his supporters' actions.

"The Aqua Buddha Teaches Peace, Not Headstomps"

UPDATE 10/28/2010: Let me be forthright and state the obvious, namely, that I do not support Rand Paul. I believe that his political and socio-economic philosophies, if manifested in federal and/or state law, will ultimately harm this country and make it far less competitive in an increasingly competitive world.

Now, for the sake of balance (hey, this ain't Fox News!), I've included a link to a longer video of the incident here:

http://youtu.be/UJ1nniVAsss

In that video, Lauren Valle is seen approaching Rand Paul to, as she said, deliver a farcical "Republicorp Employee Of The Year Award". Others, particularly those from the conservative quarters of the blogosphere, have claimed that she lunged menacingly toward Rand Paul. I'll leave that judgment to the viewers. She was clearly being restrained by Profitt and Pezzano, but she resisted that restraint, as I imagine many people who were being forcibly restrained would do, particularly if they believed that they were being prevented from exercising their freedom to assemble and protest.

Her treatment, thereafter, is also depicted in my video above and in the various news reports that have circulated since the incident occurred. Even in light of the additional footage, I believe Profitt's and Pezzano's treatment was unnecessarily aggressive and possibly criminal. Pezzano's forceful grappling and, moreover, Profitt's gratuitously violent headstomp remain unjustifiable.

The following post from Mediaite contains a video, which others have linked to below, that shows Ms. Valle shoving a sign at Rand Paul's vehicle.

http://bit.ly/dncPmL

A suited man, presumably a member of Paul's security detail, is seen directing Valle back into the crowd. Whether her actions constituted a threat is debatable. In hindsight, they certainly did not.

Category:

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[mike1956will]

I would not call that a STOMP! It was more like a love tap... I would have kicked her ass all the way back to the left coast!

She deserved EXACTLY what she got!!!!!

[atlasfugged]

@mike1956will So you enjoy beating women, tough guy? 

[mrbucketface]

Make sure you get out and vote people!!! It's time to get pissed off. I don't want to see a single one of these tea party lunatics win an election. In a moment of excitement, this jackass did what every one of his fellow teabaggers wanted to do. They HATE and demonize anyone who disagrees with them, which is everyone. Most of us thinking people don't hate, but pity them... our extremely misled fellow Americans. This is a perfect example of the way these lunatics will govern. GO VOTE!!!!!!

[CommunieNetwork]

@mike1956will look everyone it's a woman beater so watch out ladies

[ChicagoJoe57]

@mike1956will Then you would have been found guilty and punished like Tim Profitt was.

[clarissayeh]

@Longshot593

I recognise the justification of security taking her down obviously to protect Paul. But the stomper was out of line. The being taken down doesn't upset me, the fact that politics can drive someone to be that hurtful does.

[Longshot593]

@clarissayeh And I agree. Politically, I prefer to stay in the middle. But the point is the woman did something stupid and the security did their job of taking her down- the stomper was out of line and you can hear the others telling him to stop. When you're in the position of protecting someone and you see someone trying to get through the security line- you don't have time to think. You just have time to react.

[clarissayeh]

@Longshot593

Any sensible person would say the same. Putting your foot on an innocent person's head and stomping down is not okay - regardless of political party. This isn't about politics. It's about being a decent human being.

[Longshot593]

@cajayson8301 You just don't shove your way past a security line, you goof! There's better ways to present a so-called "award" to a public official. And those guys in the suits looked to be security staff to me. I wonder if you'd say the same baloney if Paul was a Liberal and the woman was a Conservative.

[cajayson8301]

Let me also say something else after having worked on numerous political campaigns. At any rally, debate, etc. NEVER is an ordinary citizen (such as the case here) entrusted to lead security...always are proper security (you know those guys we pay called cops) notified as peace keepers. Even in the video this clown goes "Get the cops!" Why pursue the argument of "she tried to get past security" if they had to call for someone who apparently wasn't there to stop this "violent sign carrying' lady

[cajayson8301]

@Longshot593 Nice way to be an apologist...she wasn't there to get in the man's face but to hand him a SIGN rewarding him. Randy the idiot won't know the difference between an insult and actual praise. Unless there's an excluded portion showing security guards dressed in full regalia (which isn't seen here), we all must assume she simply went under a roped off corridor to offer him a "gift".

[ChicagoJoe57]

@mike1956will In case it slipped by you - Tim Profitt was found guilty and fined for this incident. I guess your definition self-defense was different from the judges? Or should I say Tim got what he deserved?

[Longshot593]

I've seen the entirety of this video and the woman tried to get past the security guys in order to get at Paul and the security guys did their job by taking her down. And you can hear the others telling the head-stomper to stop and back off.