Inflatable Trump violently assaulted on camera at blue-state rally, suspect tells judge he’s the victim

A Massachusetts man pleaded not guilty to charges of allegedly assaulting a supporter of President Donald Trump at a “No Kings” rally just outside Boston.

Appearing in Lynn District Court on a count of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, Michael J. Curll pleaded not guilty but told the judge he was “sorry.” Video footage posted online showed the alleged attack on King’s Beach in the North Shore town of Swampscott as Curl seemed to attack a man in an inflatable Trump costume who has been identified as Jonathan Silveira.

“He came up behind me and kicked me,” Silveira said, according to WHDH-TV. “I lost my balance and I felt the pressure, but it was more like a push. That’s when I hit the pole. Then he kind of grabbed the railing, so I couldn’t get away or get off him. He was trying to get me to go to the ground, and I wasn’t going to the ground.”

“You’re honor, I’d like to apologize,” Curll reportedly said at his arraignment.

But he told a WHDH reporter, “I’m the victim, look at my eye,” and then claimed, “I got hit in the head with a flag.”

“I had the flag in my hand and he kept trying to bump me, so maybe that way,” Silveira countered. “I wasn’t trying to hit nobody.”

Silveira told Boston 25 News that he was at the rally to show support for Trump.

“I just wanted to get Trump out there and show him he has some support,” he said. “I was saying, I love Donald Trump. Go Trump.”

“The costume was really tight. I couldn’t really move in the thing,” he recounted of the attack that his girlfriend caught on video.

“I felt the pressure on my side. He pushed after he kicked, and I just fell to the ground,” he told the outlet. “By the time I got the costume off, he was already with the police talking to them, saying I hit him with a pole.”

“It’s an aluminum flagpole. If I even did hit him, nothing would happen,” he told the Boston Globe. “It was the lightest pole I could find. … He bumps me in the shoulder twice, comes up from behind, he kicks me, says I hit him. You just hit me with your shoulder. You hit my pole, if anything.”

The Swampscott Police report noted: “Curll uses his right leg to hook around Silveira’s legs, causing him to fall forward,” said a police report. “Curll then re-engages, wrapping his arms around Silveira’s neck and jumping up.”

WHAS-TV reported that the suspect “is also facing a slew of unrelated charges in Worcester, Dorchester, and Connecticut. They range from drug possession to assault and battery to criminal trespass.”

Curll was released on personal recognizance and will have a pre-trial hearing in December.

Senior Staff Writer
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.

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