Trump supporter charged with assaulting protesters settles case with NAACP donation
Raymond Deskins will pay a donation of $3,000 to the local NAACP chapter after the two defendants suggested the idea.
Raymond Deskins has agreed to a payout of $3,000 to his local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) after he was charged with assaulting protesters outside Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia.
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According to the Loudoun Times, Deskins was charged with assault for blowing on two activists in November. A viral video showed the 61-year-old not wearing a mask and purposefully taking a deep breath and blowing on two people at the area protesting former President Donald Trump. Deskins wore a pool toy fashioned in the likeness of Trump and a Trump t-shirt during the incident.
“That’s assault,” one of the victims exclaimed as he shouted “I breathed on you.”
The Times reported law enforcement conducted an official investigation as the short clip did not show the full scope of the interaction. Both parties were advised to seek a citizen-obtained warrant from a Loudoun County magistrate. A warrant was later served to Deskins and he then faced a misdemeanor assault charge.
Kathy Beynette, who filed the complaint along with Patricia Razeghi, expressed disdain against the process.
“We had to do all the work ourselves. We had to be the victims of the crime. We had to be the law enforcers for the crime. It was it was pretty unpleasant,” she remarked.
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With the misdemeanor charge, Deskins could have spent up to a year in jail and paid a $2,500 fine months later. Instead, Beynette and Razeghi offered a different solution. The Loudoun Times reported the two women recommended he make a donation to the NAACP Loudoun Branch for its scholarship fund. Deskins issued a $3,000 check to the organization through his attorney Michelle Thomas.
“I’m grateful for them,” Thomas said according to the news outlet. “Helping kids achieve their college dreams is a great way to respond to bad with good.”
The women are satisfied although they did not get justice for the attack against them. According to the Times, both have protective orders against Deskins.
“We were really up against it, and it took a lot to get this thing to go to court,” Razeghi said. “It took a lot of pushing, but we did it. So, we figured we got to make something good out of it.”
According to its website, NAACP Loudoun was as chartered on March 24, 1940, around the issue of equal education opportunities and made landmark strides for Black residents in the community.
On a national scale, the NAACP has called for an investigation against Trump for targeting Black voters in Georgia. theGrio reported the former president allegedly committed voter and election crimes with an unprecedented and illegal request for Georgia election officials to change the state’s certified vote count.
This matter has drawn the attention of many, including organizations like the NAACP, the nation’s oldest civil rights group, which is now calling for an investigation.
“There is an overall picture that has developed. Obviously, [President Trump] has targeted Black electorates. Places that are majority Black populations,” NAACP Board Chairman Leon Russell exclusively told theGrio.
“We believe the U.S. attorneys in Washington D.C. and Fulton County, Georgia should be looking at this case. We believe there have been state laws that have been violated. District attorneys ought to look at this case as well, as the president tried to unlawfully influence the outcome of an election,” said Russell.
This article contains additional reporting from theGrio’s April Ryan.
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