| BACKGROUND Florida Politics reported the following earlier this week: Brevard County law enforcement are investigating whether Democratic Senate candidate Val Demings’ security wrongly pushed a man to the ground. Video obtained by Florida Politics shows two individuals pushing the man on Aug. 6 at a meet-and-greet event in Mims. Demings met with supporters at Harry T. & Harriette V. Moore Memorial Park, a public setting, but security blocked the individual from entering. Based on dialogue captured on the video, the individual appeared to be a video tracker who regularly follows the campaign. A clip shows two security guards, one of whom shouts “Don’t do it,” before the man is pushed down to the ground on the street. Another security staffer then says, “You can’t get up. Stay down.” “What are you doing?” the man pushed to the ground asks. Clearly surprised, he uses an expletive as he again questions why guards are taking such action. Demings officials stood by the security team’s handling of the campaign tracker. … The guards shown look to be employees of Ardent Protection, a company hired by Demings’ campaign. … The following exchange was captured on the video. Ardent Security: “In corrections I used to balance people like you off their head in the jail.” Pushed man: “Except for I don’t do bad things. I’m not one of those people. I’m just doing my job. That’s it. I’ve been good to you guys.” Ardent: “Don’t touch me. Oh my god.” Man: “I’ve been so good, and y’all are just being ridiculous sometimes. I just want to be even keel.” Ardent: “Let’s be even keel right now. So don’t take it personal, alright.” Man: “No I’m not. Everything that just happened, we’re good.” Ardent: “Moving forward don’t take it personal.” Man: “Take what personal?” Ardent: “What’s going to happen to you.” The man ended up going to a hospital. |