Altercation at Winn-Dixie Parking Lot
 

Ed McGinty, who is known as an anti-Trump protester, was physically attacked by one of the Trump supporters who hijacked the Blue Lives Matter parade, near Sumter Landing today. His picture was on Facebook, and showed him to be battered and bleeding. McGinty was on his way to his daily protest, and from the sounds of it was not at the actual parade. The attack took place near the Sumter Landing Winn Dixie.

This is outrageous and is a black stain on Florida's Friendliest Hometown. Whether you like his views or not, he certainly has a right to protest, and to face physical violence in this manner is just frightening. He has also received threatening letters. What is the matter with these people?

Hope the guy is caught and punished for the assault.

I hope he's alright and not seriously injured.

How do you know it was a guy..

ya wanna be an activist ...this stuff is gonna happen

very sad that anyone was assaulted...however...no matter how flat the pancake is there is always two sides to it
....his behavior may have egged it on, no way of knowing...but just saying

if he got into someone's face, he's the one at fault...and would have escalated it...maybe he crossed the wrong person, someone
that had had a lousy breakfast and had gas and was in a bad mood to begin with....who knows for sure

no one knows what someone leaves behind when they leave the house

but I wasn't there and I'm not passing any judgment on anybody

all I can say is:

"well this is certainly a fine kettle of fish that we've gotten ourselves into Ollie, isn't it"

we are a nation divided....what should we think is going to happen when two zealots from opposite sides of the spectrum come head to head?

The rally did not meet or drive near the Winn Dixie. Sorry to hear he was attacked but it did not happen at the rally.

kathy

Florida’s friendliest hometown strikes again!!

I also hope that he's not seriously injured

however, he's taking a big risk putting himself out there...not everyone has self control...and hello booze plays a factor...
who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of mankind, or what triggered the person that attacked him

yes he has the right to do what he's been doing....however, there are unintended consequences to everything that we do...and the police can't be there always 'on the spot'

he was quoted as saying the man was possibly "Italian"-isn't that ethnic profiling ?

"This stuff is gonna happen?" :oops:

In other words, if you disagree with someone and have signs showing such, or even have a screaming match, physical violence is inevitable...and warranted?

Wow...just wow. :ohdear:

As far as "not passing any judgment on anybody," methinks most of the post belies the fact...that is exactly what is occurring.



Gee, let's everyone start using our real names and while we're at it...let's add our addresses and phone #'s. :doh:

I guess things are starting to get real.

The complaintant wasn’t going to report it but then thought he would get to the cops first in case the other guy claimed he was the attacker. That smells a little funny, do we have the entire story? Difficult to know at this point.

Why does the guy look Italian.. Are we racial profiling..

Possibly Italian. Why, did he have dark hair, did he have a big nose, was he eating spaghetti and meatballs in front of Winn Dixie? Talk about profiling. All this craziness has caused a divide in the country that I pray can be repaired. The longer this goes on the worse it will get. Enough already!

Ed's signs weren't inteded to provide dialogue, inform or work to any solution, they were intended to inflame and aggravate. When you do that sooner or later you put yourself in harms way.

McGinty had a sign on his cart “Hang Him” obvious who he was referring to. Now he’s getting a taste of his own medicine. And free speech does not mean yelling “fire” in a theater which his inflammatory signs are doing. He should be arrested for inciting to riot.

Y'all surely can't...be serious?! :oops:

Who didn’t know that sooner than later Ed McGinty’s hate wouldn’t result in an assault.

No one with signs or words should be the recipient of physical violence. No one. The person who attacked him was clearly a Villages thug. If you state some political view I don't agree with, or wave some sign around with words that do not meet my ethical standards, I have no right to punch you in the face. What normal people do when that happens is argue with the person, and if that gets them nowhere, they walk away.

He knows how people lie. Any person that is ignorant enough to punch a person who is peacefully protesting is clearly the type of person that would lie and try to get his cronies to dishonestly vouch for him.

This is The Villages. Given today's climate, he's lucky he wasn't shot. There's no excuse for this behavior and the assailant should be prosecuted. No one SHOULD be assaulted for poor judgement. On the other hand, which one of us would consider walking into a BLM "protest" with a sign that states "the police are just doing their job", or "white lives matter"? I think we all know the result of that lapse in judgement as well.

Right. Could have been his wife. If he has one.

Let's have a pity party for Ed.

If the attacker had been armed it could have been a disaster for Ed. Don’t agree with him, not interested in seeing him but he has the right.

How do you know it was a villager?

Isn't it time for TV to put a foot down on all this political crap ? We need a permit to have a parade, but these groups have unauthorized parades without one. They disrupt traffic and cause hard feelings. This must stop before someone gets seriously injured

If it happened near Winn Dixie, there is a video. Get the police or store to release the video for ALL to see.

McGinty wasn't at any protest. He was out in front of the Winn Dixie, driving his golf cart.

keep doing what you are doing, Ed. We support you!

Read the story. McGinty did nothing wrong.

Get used to it Eddie!
 

This is unfortunately a battlefield now.
Enemy combatants are going to suffer casualties!

Ummm, I'll take a shot at answering that question...decent, stable, intelligent adults? :ohdear:

Obviously way more to the story.

Were Sheriff's Deputies called? Report Made?
 

Great surveillance cams at Winn Dixie and in the parking lot. If something happened it will be recorded. Sumter County Sheriff's will investigate any crime thoroughly, if its reported.

If figure anyone riding about with inflammatory signage on their cart is "cruisin' for a bruisin'"

Too bad these situations end in violence. It takes two to play.

Patently untrue, but explains...a lot. :oops:

Your "right" to be offended from legal signs or protests, does NOT extend to a "right" to physically assault...the one offending you. :ohdear:

Oh please. This comment is ...... (you know what I am thinking, so I wont make a personal attack).

Exactly, but what I find interesting is that this comment doesn't appear until half-way through this thread.

Sounds like a Jessie Smollett case.