JANESVILLE, Wis. — Police are looking for a man who pepper-sprayed a 15-year-old girl as opponents and supporters of Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump clashed outside a Wisconsin rally.
The altercation is the latest in a series of confrontations at recent Trump events.
Investigators have photos taken by participants at Tuesday’s demonstration outside of the Holiday Inn Express that could help to identify the man with the pepper spray, Janesville Police Sgt. Aaron Ellis said Wednesday.
Ellis said the girl told police she punched a man who groped her, and another man then pepper-sprayed her. The girl and a 19-year-old woman standing next to her were treated and released from a hospital, police said.
Ellis said the girl could face charges for punching the man, identified by the Wisconsin State Journal as Dan Crandall, of Milton.
“I didn’t touch her,” Crandall, a Trump supporter, told the newspaper. Crandall said someone standing behind him used the pepper spray. That person could be charged with illegal discharge of pepper spray, Ellis said.
“It doesn’t appear that (the man who used the pepper-spray) was directly involved,” Ellis said.
Police released a photo of the man suspected of using pepper spray on the girl, which shows him wearing a red hat with the Trump campaign slogan “Make America Great Again.”
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