VOICE & VIEWPOINT NEWSWIRE
BREAKING – Today, the Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA) has taken a significant legal step by filing criminal charges in Springfield, Ohio’s municipal court against former President Donald Trump and Ohio Senator JD Vance. Over the past several weeks, both men have been accused of leading efforts to spread debunked claims that Haitian immigrants in the city are responsible for eating pets, including cats, dogs, and wildlife.
“HBA filed this criminal charge to hold Trump and Vance accountable for the devastating harm they have caused our community in Springfield and has impacted Haitians around the United States,” said Guerline Jozef, Executive Director of Haitian Bridge Alliance.
According to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, 33 bomb threats have been made in the last two weeks, creating a string of evacuations across hospitals, schools, universities, and government offices.
According to HBA’s filing, these statements are not only false but have also fueled fear, division, and violence in the local community.
“HBA is non-partisan, this is not about one candidate or political party. This is about confronting white supremacy, anti-Black rhetoric, and hate speech that seems to be a constant in U.S. politics and that continues to cause suffering. No one is above the law,” the press release states.
The criminal complaint urges the court to affirm probable cause for multiple crimes and to issue arrest warrants against Trump and Vance. Ohio-based civil rights attorney Subodh Chandra, who is representing HBA, is known for his work on the high-profile case involving the family of Tamir Rice, a young Black boy who was killed by Ohio police.
According to Chandra’s firms website, the criminal charges are as follows:
The criminal charges
Guerline Jozef, the Alliance’s cofounder and executive director, on the Alliance’s behalf, charged Vance and Trump with, and seeks their immediate arrest for
- disrupting public service in violation of R.C. 2909.04(A) and (B) by causing widespread bomb and other threats that resulted in massive disruptions to the public services in Springfield, Ohio;
- making false alarms in violation of R.C. 2917.32(A) by knowingly causing alarm in the Springfield community by continuing to repeat lies that state and local officials have said were false;
- committing telecommunications harassment in violation of R.C. 2917.21(A) and S.C.O. § 537.08 by spreading claims they know to be false during the presidential debate, campaign rallies, nationally televised interviews, and social media;
- committing aggravated menacing in violation R.C. 2903.21(A) by knowingly making intimidating statements with the intent to abuse, threaten, or harass the recipients, including Trump’s threat to deport immigrants who are here legally to Venezuela, a land they have never known;
- committing aggravated menacing in violation of R.C. 2903.21(A) by knowingly causing others to falsely believe that members of Springfield’s Haitian community would cause serious physical harm to the person or property of others in Springfield; and
- violating the prohibition against complicity, R.C. 2923.03(A) and S.C.O. § 501.10, by conspiring with one another and spreading vicious lies that caused innocent parties to be parties to their various crimes.
The memorandum and affidavit charging Trump and Vance with crimes can be found here.
This is a developing story, Voice & Viewpoint will continue to come back with updates as they come.
