High school student charged with assaulting classmate wearing MAGA hat, Trump banner
An Oklahoma high school student was reportedly charged with assault and battery this week after an altercation with a classmate wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat and one of President Trump’s banners as a cape.
The charges against Kenneth Dewayne Jones, 18, were filed in a municipal court in Edmond, Okla., city attorney Steve Murdock told Oklahoma’s Enid News and Eagle.
The charge comes after Jones, who is African-American, was seen on video knocking off the MAGA hat of a younger white student at Santa Fe High School.
The newspaper reported that the family of Lane Roberson, 17, released a press release about the incident.{mosads}
“We were informed by him that a couple hours prior he had been assaulted by another student and that the school had done nothing about it,” David Roberson, the student’s father, said in the statement.
The student was reportedly wearing the merchandise from the Trump campaign last month during the school’s annual Double Wolf Dare Week.
“Take it off or I’ll rip it off … do you want me to rip it off?” Jones is heard saying in the video.
Jones was also issued a ticket by a school resource officer, Edmond Police spokeswoman Jenny Wagnon told the Enid News and Eagle.
The families of the two students entered into a five-day mediation process offered by the city but did not come to a resolution, the newspaper reported.
David Roberson said he advised Murdock to pursue the criminal assault charges against Jones.
“We are proud that our son has and will continue to show his patriotism, love for his country, and support for the president of the United States of America, Donald Trump,” Roberson said.
The newspaper said that it did not get a response from Jones to a request for comment.
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