Two women are facing hate crime charges after confronting a 7-year-old boy and his mother outside the Democratic National Convention in Delaware over their support of President Donald Trump and seizing a “Make America Great Again” hat.
A grand jury on Tuesday indicted Olivia Winslow and Camryn Amy, both 21, on felony charges of robbery, conspiracy and hate crimes and a misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of a child.
Amy also was indicted on misdemeanor charges of assaulting a man who tried to retrieve the hat, attempting to assault his mother, and offensive touching of the boy.
The indictment accuses the women of committing the crimes “for the purpose of interfering with the victim’s free exercise or enjoyment of any right, privilege or immunity protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, or committed said crime because the victim had exercised or enjoyed said right or rights, …”
“Violence in any form is unacceptable, but harming another person — let alone a child — because of the expression of their views betrays the principles on which our country was founded,” said Delaware Attorney General Kathleen Jennings, a Democrat who has joined in several lawsuits against the Trump administration.
“Free speech, free assembly, and free expression are sacred, no matter whether we agree with the opinions expressed, and especially when we don’t,” Jennings added in a prepared statement.
The incident, which was captured on a video that went viral after being posted online by Students for Trump, occurred outside a restaurant at the Wilmington Riverfront on Aug. 20, a few hundred feet from where Joe Biden gave his DNC acceptance speech that night. The video shows the two women damaging signs supporting Trump and taking a red MAGA hat.
“Get it Liv, get it,” Amy tells Winslow, who picks up the hat from the ground and throws it.
The boy chases after the two women, saying “That’s somebody else’s hat,” before Amy picks it up again and walks away with it.
“Mom, call 911,” the frightened boy says.
The video later shows Amy apparently punching a man who tried to get the hat back before she throws it over a fence. Amy then approaches and confronts the woman shooting the video, which abruptly ends.
According to the attorney general’s office, it does not appear that either of the suspects is represented by an attorney yet. It was not immediately clear whether either is still in custody.