In a time of deep political polarisation in the United States, the Republican Party’s candidate for New York Governor escaped a ninja-style attack with a spiked knuckle weapon, but the alleged assailant’s detention was delayed under controversial state law.
Although Lee Zeldin, an Iraq War veteran, grabbed the alleged assailant’s wrist and stopped the attack on his neck on July 21, he was arrested and held under federal law only on July 23 after being released under state law.
During the attack at a campaign rally in Fairport, New York, near Canada, Zeldin received assistance from his running mate for lieutenant governor, Alison Esposito, a retired New York City police officer.
She told Fox News that she grabbed the alleged attacker from beneath the trailer that served as the stage, while Zeldin held him by the wrist with his “military training.”
Jakubonis slashed Zeldin’s neck with “a sort of brass knuckles with two daggers protruding from his fingers,” according to Esposito.
Zeldin, who is currently a member of the House, is running against Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul, who is seeking her first elected term.
She was lieutenant governor when Andrew Cuomo resigned midway through his term last year after several allegations of sexual harassment surfaced, though none led to his prosecution.
Jabukonis was released without bail by a state court in accordance with state laws enacted by the Democrat-controlled state legislature, in a drama of lax law enforcement being blamed for an increase in crime.
Zeldin, who has made crime fighting a centrepiece of his campaign, was quick to condemn Jakubonis’ release, and several Republicans joined him in accusing Democrats of being soft on crime.
Following the uproar, the area’s federal prosecutor stepped in and charged Jakubonis with assaulting members of Congress under a federal law, and he was arrested on July 23.
The federal law allows for his detention.
The federal prosecutor’s spokesperson described the weapon only as a pistol in a statement announcing the arrest and charges “keychain with two sharp points” and said that during the attack Jakubonis repeated, “you’re done”.
Hochul condemned the attack on Twitter, saying, “It has no place in New York.”
President Joe Biden, who has focused on gun violence like his party members, said in a statement that the attack “defies our fundamental democratic values.”
The attack on Zeldin occurred on the same day that a televised hearing was held by a Democrat-dominated House panel investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol to highlight the dangers of right-wing political violence to democracy.
A man armed with a gun was arrested last month outside the home of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, and charged with attempted assassination.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Nicholas John Roske stated that he travelled from California to kill Kavanaugh because he was upset that the previous Supreme Court decision making abortion legal throughout the country would be overturned, as well as the mass shooting at a Texas high school that killed 21 people.
Zeldin, who served on active duty in the Army, is now a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves, which are similar to the Territorial Army.
