Posted on 10/18/2023 9:36:54 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
The city of San Marcos has settled a lawsuit over its handling of the October 2020 “Trump Train” incident involving a Biden-Harris campaign bus.
The city said it “continues to deny many of the allegations” made in the lawsuit, but acknowledged that the police department’s response to the incident “did not reflect the Department’s high standards for conduct and attention to duty.”
Campaign staffers and volunteers, including former state Sen. Wendy Davis, filed the suit in 2021, accusing the city of not providing assistance or a police escort when the bus was surrounded by a pro-Trump caravan on Interstate 35. The lawsuit alleged that members of the San Marcos Police Department laughed and joked about it when they were asked for help during the highway confrontation.
The city will pay $87,500 to compensate the plaintiffs for the incident and for their legal costs, the city’s statement said.
The San Marcos Police Department “has been committed to improving its operations,” the city said, and all employees will attend training that will “remind members of their obligation and role in developing and fortifying community trust and respect in local law enforcement.”
“Citizens and visitors to the City of San Marcos should have confidence in the San Marcos Police Department, and a review of this event has better positioned the Department to more fully meet the community’s needs and expectations,” the city said.
The staffers were on the campaign bus on Oct. 30, 2020, the final day of early voting in the presidential election. The suit alleged that supporters of President Donald Trump drove recklessly, swerving and braking to try to force the bus off the road. As the bus traveled north on I-35, members of the New Braunfels Police Department escorted the bus after it was surrounded, and communicated with San Marcos police, who did not provide an escort when the bus reached the city, the suit alleged.
In addition to suing the city, plaintiffs Eric Cervini, David Gins, Timothy Hollway and Davis named Chase Stapp, the city’s public safety manager at the time, Assistant Police Chief Brandon Winkenwerder and Matthew Daenzer, a police corporal, in the suit. All three still work for the city; Stapp is now an assistant city manager.
The campaign staffers obtained text messages between Stapp, Winkenwerder, Daenzer and other officers. In one text, Stapp wrote “from what I gather, the Biden bus never even exited I-35 thanks to the Trump escort.”
In November 2021, the city released a statement acknowledging “insensitive comments” were made that were not “in keeping with the values of our organization,” and said San Marcos Police Chief Stan Standridge would address the comments “according to normal disciplinary procedures.”
In July, a federal judge sanctioned the city for failing to preserve phone and email records from a former employee, Cole Stapp, a deputy city marshal who left the department in 2021. Cole Stapp is Chase Stapp’s son, and in a deposition in March, said he believed he received an email request for increased police presence for a political rally “significantly prior to” the day of the incident. The city said Cole Stapp was mistaken, and the only email was sent on Oct. 30, the day of the incident.
A magistrate judge ruled that the city “failed miserably” at complying with an order to preserve phones, phone records, text messages and emails, but found there was no proof the city was motivated by bad faith in failing to keep those records.
$87,500.00?
Chump Change. Donald Trump ought to write a check for that amount and send it to San Marcos.
Here in Texas, Wendy Davis and Robert (Beto) O’Rourke seem to be competing for who can lose the most elections.
If there were video evidence of that it would have been all over the nooze.
It was on the local news a lot but if I remember correctly, which isn’t a guarantee, one of the escort vehicles for the bus pulled into the other lane forcing one of the “attackers” to take evasive action.
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