Police in South Florida have made a second arrest in connection with a vicious weekend attack on a Marco Rubio campaign worker who told authorities he was attacked "because he was a Republican," according to an arrest report.
Rubio first tweeted about the attack on Monday. He has highlighted the case as an example of anti-Republican media bias, because local and national media have cast doubt on the accusation that the attack was politically motivated. Rubio believes the latest police report clearly backs his assertion that his canvasser was attacked over his Republican politics.
"When a republican volunteer is savagely beaten the traditional media treats the victim as the criminal and the criminal as a nice young man who likes fishing & just made a mistake," Rubio said, noting reporting from the Miami Herald.
"Local media spent 2 days treating the GOP canvasser who was attacked as a criminal & denying the attack was politically motivated Now a second arrest, a police report & surveillance video shows how biased & irresponsible the narrative they were pushing was"
According to the latest Hialeah Police report, Christopher Monzon, the alleged victim of the attack, was distributing political flyers for Rubio and Florida governor Ron DeSantis in Hialeah early Sunday evening. At about 6:20 p.m., he encountered Javier Lopez, 25, and Jonathan Alexander Casanova, 26, who were blocking the sidewalk, according to an arrest report.
Monzon, 27, told Hialeah police that Casanova told him "he could not pass through because he was a Republican," and if he continued to walk through the neighborhood that he would sic his two German Shepherds on him and shoot him, according to the report. Monzon stated he was on public property, and walked in the street in order to walk around Lopez and Casanova.
Lopez rushed Monzon and threw him to the ground, according to the report. While Monzon was on the ground, Casanova kicked him in the head and Lopez punched him. "Casanova then began to give commands to the dogs to attack and bite the victim," the report states. Neighbors eventually broke up the fight.
Police arrested Lopez first, but their initial description of the attack differed from Rubio's. The senator tweeted Monday that one of his canvassers "was brutally attacked by 4 animals who told him Republicans weren't allowed in their neighborhood." Police initially identified only one attacker, Lopez, and did not note Monzon's claim that the attack was politically motivated. Mainstream media outlets, including the Miami Herald, and New York Magazine, cast doubt on the Rubio's account, and instead focused on Monzon, who has been affiliated with the Proud Boys and was identified in media reports as a "notorious white supremacist" and a "white supremacist goon."
Writing for New York Magazine, Jonathan Chait took aim at "conservative organs," including National Review, for "quickly repeating" Rubio's account. He noted that the "initial police report noted no political motivation for the attack, which took place in a high-crime neighborhood." He then noted the "true significance of this episode" was Monzon's Proud Boys affiliation and his participation in the 2017 "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Va.
The Miami Herald spoke to Lopez's mother, a registered Republican, who denied that the fight was about politics. "My son doesn't know anything about politics. He likes fishing," she told a reporter on Tuesday. "My son has never voted."
On Tuesday, police located Casanova on Miami Beach and arrested him. His arrest report includes Monzon's claim that he was attacked "because he was a Republican." It does not include additional information linking the attack to politics. Casanova, who faces a felony aggravated battery charge, declined to speak with investigators.
A photo posted to Rubio's Twitter account on Monday showed Monzon on a stretcher, wearing a white Rubio t-shirt, with a black eye and blood running down his face. Rubio stated that he suffered internal bleeding, a broken jaw, and will need facial reconstructive surgery.
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