Newly released body camera footage shows Mahoning County sheriff's deputies leading a woman out of the Covelli Centre in Youngstown after she was struck during President Donald Trump's Oct. 12 rally, with no charges filed in the case as of this week. The video surfaced nine days after the incident, reigniting questions about exactly what happened inside the arena and who was responsible.
The footage was obtained by FOX 8 through a public-records request filed with the sheriff's office. It shows deputies leading the woman out of the venue, photographing her, and releasing her outside, according to the station's I-Team report. A separate FOX 8 camera at the event had already captured video of the woman being hit by an unidentified male, the station reported.
Mahoning County Sheriff Jerry Greene told FOX 8 that his detectives are investigating an incident involving a female protester and three males, and that his office received hundreds of calls about the matter afterward. Deputies have since reached out to the woman and the three men who may have been involved, per the same report.
Conflicting Accounts of the Woman's Shirt and the Alleged Assault
According to WKBN, the woman was wearing a T-shirt that read, “Release the Epstein Files,” when deputies pulled her from the audience. Video reviewed by WFMJ appears to show an audience member pulling on the protester's hair and clothing and punching her in the face.
Security that night was handled by the Mahoning County Sheriff's Office and the Secret Service rather than Youngstown police, who were not present at the event, NBC News reported. The same report noted the confrontation briefly delayed Trump's speech as he watched it unfold from the stage.
No Arrests, Then a Possible Charge
Accounts of the investigation's status have shifted since the rally. NBC News initially reported there were no arrests because deputies did not witness the beating and the woman chose not to file a report at the time. WKBN's later reporting said the woman was cooperating as a potential crime victim and that investigators were still waiting on hospital records detailing any injuries she had, adding that a misdemeanor charge could be filed.
WKBN also reported that at least three separate incidents took place at the venue during the rally, and that no charges had been filed in any of them as of that report. Fox8 separately noted that multiple outbursts from the crowd were caught on camera during Trump's visit to Northeast Ohio, with three different protesters causing disturbances at separate times during the event.
Three People Removed From the Venue
Citing its sister station WKBN, FOX 8 reported that three people were removed from the rally altogether. It remains unclear how many of those removals involved physical confrontations beyond the one captured on the body camera footage, and the sheriff's office has not announced any charges stemming from the night.
