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- A Biden-Harris campaign bus was surrounded by a convoy of Trump supporters in October 2020.
- Democratic staffers say that the City of San Marcos refused to send a police escort, according to an amended federal lawsuit.
- They also allege that Democratic staffers were called a slur by city officials, the lawsuit says.
Four days before the 2020 presidential election, a convoy of vehicles flying flags, supporting then-President Donald Trump, mobbed a Biden-Harris campaign bus on a Texas highway.
The "Trump Train" incident caused staffers of then-Democratic presidential and vice-presidential candidates Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to cancel all remaining campaign stops in Texas. And, according to an amended federal lawsuit, inflicted "ongoing psychological and emotional injury."
-Dr. Eric Cervini (@ericcervini) October 31, 2020
But, as the amended lawsuit alleges, the City of San Marcos refused to send a police escort. Instead, they called Democratic staffers a variation of the R-word and privately mocked them, according to texts and 911 audio recordings obtained by the plaintiffs.
Officials also made fun of a campaign staffer's "hard breathing." The lawsuit details that they said they should just "drive defensively" or "leave the train," per a transcript of a call between a New Braunfels dispatcher and San Marcos police corporal Matthew Daenzer.
Plaintiffs say that the defendant's failure to protect them is unlawful. They cite the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, which, in part, prevents groups from "conspiring to obstruct free and fair federal elections by intimidating and injuring voters and denying them the ability to engage in political speech" and imposes a duty on Americans to protect targets of political intimidation.
The amended complaint details the incident which Trump, at the time, acclaimed. "I LOVE TEXAS!" Trump tweeted along with a video of the incident, the Daily Beast reported.
"Defendants deliberately chose to ignore reports of at least forty vehicles forming a self-labeled vehicular 'Trump Train' on Interstate 35 ('I-35') with the express purpose of terrorizing and intimidating supporters of the Democratic ticket," the lawsuit alleges.
"For at least ninety minutes, including during the entirety of the stretch of I-35 inside the San Marcos city lines, the Trump Train pursued and terrorized the Plaintiffs. Plaintiffs tried to get help. They repeatedly called 911. They requested police escorts."
The amended lawsuit, filed by several Democrats, including former Texas state Senator Wendy Davis and Harris staffer David Gins, asks for damages and a jury trial.
The defendants include Chase Stapp, director of public safety for San Marcos, San Marcos Police Department, Assistant Police Chief Brandon Winkenwerder, SMPD Corporal Matthew Daenzer, and the City of San Marcos.
No one has been charged over the incident, but the FBI said in November 2020 that it was being investigated.