A foster care advocate is difficult Rep. Nancy Mace‘s account that she was “bodily accosted” by a person who was arrested on the Capitol on Tuesday.
Elliott Hinkle, 31, who based Unicorn Solutions and advocates for youngster welfare and LGBTQ youths, stated Mace, R-S.C., who co-chairs the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth, spoke at an occasion celebrating 25 years of the Foster Care Independence Act, held within the Rayburn Building with no less than 50 attendees. Hinkle stated Mace stated in her remarks that she appeared ahead to working with the advocates who have been current and that James McIntyre, 33, of Illinois, approached her after she spoke.
“I feel James took that significantly,” Hinkle stated, describing how they and others watched McIntyre, who co-founded Foster Care Alumni of America’s Illinois chapter, method Mace after she spoke and reached out his hand.
“They shake arms, and James says, ‘Trans youth are additionally foster youth, they usually want your help.’ And then sat down,” Hinkle stated.
Shortly after Mace left with a congressional staffer, Hinkle stated, the staffer got here again into the room and approached McIntyre, asking for his identify and the message he had for Mace.
Several minutes later, Hinkle stated, U.S. Capitol Police started arriving exterior the occasion. Capitol Police stated in Tuesday’s assertion that officers later arrested McIntyre after an investigative interview.
“I watched that interplay occur, and I noticed a handshake and a dialog and a really regular factor for an advocate to come back to D.C. and do,” Hinkle stated. “She didn’t even appear to have, like, that massive of a response to him. She simply kind of made, like, virtually like a tiny shock face, after which she left the room.”
Lisa Dickson, one other former foster youth and advocate, said Tuesday on Facebook that she was upset in Mace.
“I need to categorical deep disappointment in the truth that Congresswoman Nancy Mace got here to a nationwide foster youth occasion, instructed taking part youth that it was a protected house — and actually had certainly one of them arrested by Capital police for merely shaking her hand and asking about trans rights,” Dickson wrote.
Foster Care Alumni, Capitol Police and a spokesperson for Mace’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark Wednesday evening.
The Imprint, which covers youngster welfare and associated points, first reported on the disputed assault allegations.
According to a report of the incident filed with D.C. Superior Court, Mace instructed officers that McIntyre “started to aggressively and in an exaggerated method shake her arm up and down in a hand shaking movement. The impact of the movement was described as her arm flailing for about 3-5 seconds,” the report stated, noting that she stated she “felt intimidated and unable to tug away when she tried.”
Mace instructed Capitol Police that she had ache in her wrists, arm, shoulder and armpit space after the incident. She refused help from paramedics when it was provided, based on the report. She said Tuesday night on X that she was “bodily accosted on the Capitol tonight by a pro-tr*ns man.”
A day later, Mace shared an image of herself on X along with her proper arm in a sling, and he or she has made posts associated to the incident.
“The ordinary suspects within the media are utilizing the assault on me to prop up misogyny on the Left, giving a platform to activists chasing their quarter-hour of fame,” she wrote.
Last month, Mace introduced a measure to bar lawmakers and House workers from “utilizing single-sex services aside from these equivalent to their organic intercourse.” She stated she was responding to the election of Sarah McBride, of Delaware, because the first openly transgender member of Congress in November.
Capitol Police stated in a press release Tuesday that McIntyre was charged with assaulting a authorities official. He was held in police custody in a single day and launched Wednesday, Hinkle stated.
McIntyre pleaded not responsible via a court-appointed legal professional Wednesday, court docket filings confirmed.
Magistrate Judge Renee Raymond ordered that McIntyre keep away from Mace and that he be launched from custody Wednesday afternoon with circumstances, based on the court docket docket.
